


My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark

by Banana_ana



Series: Secrets and Lies [7]
Category: Bastille (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Blow Jobs, Confusion, Drama, Drinking, Family Drama, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Masturbation, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-05-08 08:04:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 27,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14689914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Banana_ana/pseuds/Banana_ana
Summary: Part of the Secrets and Lies SeriesAs the drama continues, what is next in store for the couple after the inflammatory interviews and accusations affect their personal and professional life. Family obligations continue despite professional problems and will they finally find out exactly what Laura is up to?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! OK so this is part seven (OMG I can't believe it's gotten this long!) Please read the other parts if you haven't already as this is probably not going to make sense if you haven't.
> 
> Please enjoy! As always if you want please leave comments and kudos if you feel they are needed! Always open to comments of any kind and love constructive criticism. If you want to ask me anything more in depth I Basnatural on Tumblr. 
> 
> Please enjoy!!
> 
> <3

The final notes rang out for Laura Palmer, and Dan stands at the microphone stand where he had started at the beginning of the song. He couldn’t see much through the bright stage lights in front of him, but he could hear the applause and cheers from the audience and then felt a solid hand clap him on his shoulder, and looked to his left to see Will standing next to him with a comforting hand on him.

 

Kyle and Woody managed to leave their own instruments and had crowded round him too, and he felt the familiar long arms of his husband run around his middle, squeezing at his hip as they all take a bow together. He smiles at the reaction, still surprised after all these years that people actually wanted to listen to his stupid song he had written in his bedroom. He applauds his band mates and then looks back towards the couch he had left not five minutes earlier to see Graham Norton, Taylor Swift and Eddie Redmayne all standing and applauding them as well in their perfect outfits and suits.

 

Sharing a look of incredulous surprise with Kyle he takes a deep breath in and heads back to where he had been sitting before. Two stools had appeared at the back of the sofa behind Dan, and there was clearly space for one person to sit next to him.

 

Kyle gives him a silent look, and Dan was able to see immediately that he had been told by the management team that he shouldn’t sit next to him. Dan goes back to sitting next to Eddie, silently cursing that the people who were meant to be looking after them were dead set against his marriage and promoting that too.

 

“Well, that was amazing! Bastille, ladies and gentleman,” the Irishman applauds again as the group settle down after greeting the other guests on the couch. “Well, at least one of you dressed for the occasion,” Graham jokes with them and indicates to Will who was wearing brown smart trousers and a shirt compared to the jeans and graphic t-shirts of the rest of them. Dan suddenly feels very uncomfortable even though he knows the remark was made as a joke.

 

“Thank you so much for performing that for us,” the interviewer continues, trying to keep the show flowing. Dan knows that this is due to finish soon, but as it isn’t live it is unknown exactly how much will be asked of them now. “So that was one of your first songs, right?”

 

As normal, the rest of the band all wait for Dan to answer. He had always been nominated as the one who answered questions about the music. If he was struggling, then the others would jump in with a pithy comment or sarcasm so that he could regroup, but as the one who knew everything about the songs, he was always the best person to answer the questions.

 

“Er, yeah, off of the first album! It’s the first time we’ve been performing without our Charlie, so we thought we’d do something that was never written with him in mind,” Dan says and reaches forward to pick up the glass of water that had miraculously been refreshed for him while they had performed.

 

Automatically he looks behind him to Kyle to see if he wanted his drink too. “Babes, you need a drink?” he says without even thinking. The term of endearment was nothing new, they had always called each other babes or baby for as long as they had known each other. It was just something that had rubbed off on each of them the longer they had been around Kyle. Obviously this was something that was news to the audience and the interviewer as there was a collective noise of contentment as he said it. Dan startles as he looks around at everyone.

 

“Oh, no, that’s not a loving name,” Will clarifies quickly for everyone. “It sounds like it, but it really isn’t,” and Graham gives him a look of confusion.

 

“Yeah, it gets really awkward when I’m with my wife and Kyle in a shop and I call him that too and my kids just look at my wife really confused,” Woody jumps in to help too, as Dan relaxes as much as he can, handing his husband the drink as well.

 

Graham laugh with the other celebrities on the couch, but it was like they had all been told to stay quiet while the interviewer changed his ficus onto the indie band that had now joined them.

 

“So there’s been a lot of controversy surrounding you recently, Dan,” Graham starts and Dan takes a sip of water.

 

“Around me? Has there?” he makes himself sound as surprised as he can make it as he swallows and feels his cheeks starting to redden as he waits for the follow up question.

 

“Well, there was that magazine article and there have been things said online too,” Graham continues, looking for some sort of response. Dan stays silent for a beat, trying to compose a reply that didn’t acknowledge any questions but also changed the subject.

 

“Okay, well for anyone who doesn’t know,” Woody pipes up suddenly before the singer can say anything, “there’s been a lot of things said recently that have been untrue about all of us, but especially Dan,” the drummer continues and Kyle, Dan and Will all look at him with surprise. “What? I can talk,” he says to their confused looks. “Anyway, Graham, someone who has a bit of an ‘obsession’ with this one here,” he side hugs Kyle quickly who splutters in response, “has been spreading some lies. And said some stuff about this one which is blatantly untrue,” he carries on completely ignoring the frantic waving coming from the Nikki – the management company’s representative – in the wings. “I mean, have you seen Dan’s arms? He can barely keep hitting a tom drum for a gig let alone physically hurt anyone else,” the entire audience bursts out laughing at the joke.

 

Suddenly, Eddie notices the annoyed management assistant. “I don’t think she’s that happy with you,” he says to the drummer and everyone on the couch looks around at her and Dan notices her flush bright red and then stop what she was doing before turning and escaping from the scrutiny of the celebrities.

 

“Who was she?” the female singer asks, suddenly genuinely interested for the first time that evening for something that wasn’t to do with her.

 

“Uhm, one of our management team,” Dan says, awkwardly and bites his lower lip.

 

“Well that kind of answers my other questions then,” Graham says and throws his cue cards behind him on the desk with a chuckle and a flourish. “Oh! No it doesn’t!” he says suddenly remembering one last question. “So what is actually going on with you and Kyle then Dan?”

 

Dan looks back to the wings and doesn’t see Nikki standing there. He remembers back to the briefing before the show and the line that essentially forbade him from saying anything about his marriage or relationship, but after what Woody had said he presumed that had pretty much been blown out of the water.

 

Looking into the crowd he notices Jools sitting at the end of one of the front rows smiling encouragingly at both her best friend and the singer and the woman puts her thumbs up at him. After only knowing her for only a few months, and especially after forging his signature the way she did, Dan had never thought he would find her one of his better friends and he knew that Kyle trusted her implicitly. He takes a deep breath in before finally answering.

 

“Well, we came out quite publicly in the summer, but since then we’ve been travelling and playing and touring, so there wasn’t much in the way for announcements. And you know, Kyle was in hospital for a while, and then we had some other stuff we had to do…” Dan says, in his own inimitable way, talking around the answer instead of actually providing one.

 

“Dan,” Kyle interrupts him, knowing it was the only way to get him back on topic.

 

“Huh? Oh, fuck, sorry,” he curses, realising what he was doing. “Right, well, me and Kyle…actually…got married,” he says, surprisingly calmly and simply for him and there was a chorus of cheers from the audience.

 

Everyone on the couch congratulates them both and Kyle throws one arm around Dan’s shoulders and neck, pulling him close and kissing him on the cheek earning the widest smile from the singer – just knowing that Kyle was happy that he had announced it was enough to settle the nerves in Dan’s heart in the moment.

 

“Well then! I think that’s all we have time for tonight! We don’t even have time for anything from the big red chair unfortunately…” and the comedian manages to close the show down after the congratulations and cheering from the crowd had calmed down.

 

The band all hug each other as the filming comes to a close and then head over to the stage as the audience start to leave and filter out of the studio. Even though they had roadies to help with packing up their kit, it wasn’t their usual crew and Woody especially wanted to make sure his drums were treated with the correct care and attention.

 

Dan pulls the sleeves of his jacket up and starts to tie up the cable from one of the microphones in an effort to try and help out. He feels the strong hands grab him around the waist and then literally pull him off of the floor, holding him tight.

 

“What the fuck!” he screams, and he will swear later it was nowhere as high as the others said it was.

 

“You were amazing! Absolutely, bloody, fucking amazing!” Kyle laughs in his ear and refuses to put him down as he walks him to the side of the stage, making his drop the equipment as he goes.

 

“Kyle put me the fuck down!” Dan cries, and his husband finally drops him down in a very dark corner of the stage, where no-one was around to see them.

 

Kyle crowds the older man up against the wall and caresses a hand down the side of his face, making Dan look away from him in embarrassment.

 

“Don’t!” Kyle says in a hoarse whisper. “Don’t you dare look away. Daniel Campbell Smith, you should be fucking proud of yourself, I know I am,” he tells him and pushes a stray lock of hair out of the singer’s face where it had landed after Dan had run his hand through it a number of times. “You fucking did it babes,” Kyle says with finality and reaches forward to brush his lips lightly against the other man’s.

 

He looks deeply into the dark blue eyes looking back at him and can still see the uncertainty in them. He sighs and tugs at Dan’s soft dark hair, causing him to moan slightly – a noise that was guaranteed to ignite Kyle’s libido.

 

“Fucking believe me already,” he growls at him and he sees the pupils widen at the sound before Dan awkwardly nods back at him. “Good boy.”

 

He leans back in, holding Dan’s head in exactly the same position before licking the seam of his lips and demanding entry to taste the one thing he had been missing all day. Being away from his lover and best friend to do fucking wedding suit shopping had been his idea of hell, and not being able to even touch him subtly while filming had made him annoyed and even more frustrated.

 

Dan grants him entry and immediately bites down on his tongue and sucks hard, imitating exactly what Kyle wanted him to do with other bits of his body instead of his tongue, and their body’s gravitate closer together and they start grinding against each other as if they were somewhere a lot more private.

 

“What the fuck? Oh for fucks sake! When you get married this kind of shit isn’t supposed to happen anymore!” the familiar Plymouth twang breaks through and the two of them slowly break apart, Kyle smiling unashamedly at the position they were caught in and shrugging at the drummer.

 

“Christopher, you’re just jealous,” Kyle retorts, and winks slyly back at Dan as he walks off towards where his boards had been packed up already for him.

 

Woody shakes his head and looks back at Dan. All he can do is laugh loudly as he notices the way his friend was now faced away from him and desperately trying to cover his crotch.


	2. Chapter 2

Dan hums almost silently as he feels the large familiar hands rub at his neck and shoulders, and he feels his eyes glide close as they continue to rub away at the knots and tension that he had been keeping in his upper back for the past twenty-four hours.

 

His thoughts run back to the previous evening, after having left everyone else and returning him, Kyle had fucked into him harder than he had for a while, all the while spewing filthy statements about how much Dan was enjoying himself. They had both come hard – and at least twice – in the hours between getting home and dawn. The singer stifles a yawn as he smiles at the memory, the slight ache in his backside also reminding him deliciously of everything that he had been very happily put through.  

 

“…what the fuck possessed you? _Excuse me,_ do you two need some alone time?!”

 

Dan shudders back to the present, his eyes flying open and him jerking forward in the familiar uncomfortable chair he had sat himself in. He hits his knees against the leg of the table in front of him and knocks the papers on the desk forward, hitting the glass of water on the other side of the desk and knocking what he could only assume was water all over the red faced bearded man sitting in front of him.

 

“OH FUCK!” Dan shouts loudly as he jumps up to try and do something to stop the flow of water now dripping quickly into the manager’s lap. 

 

Dave get out of his chair and his camel coloured trousers now had a rapidly expanding wet patch across his groin and crotch area. The room was silent for a moment and Dave’s face deepened even more to an almost puce – something Dan didn’t even think was possible for a human face to do.

 

They had been called into the office as soon as Nikki had rushed off to report exactly what had been said on the interview so Dave could be aware of it before it was aired. Each of them had had an extremely irate voicemail left on their phones overnight and they had met up outside that morning. Dan had been surprised it wasn’t just him, but it seemed Woody had been chosen to be the brunt of Dave’s anger. Not that the drummer couldn’t look after himself and gave just as good as he got. That was the main reason Dan had zoned out.

 

The large man hits a button on his intercom and asks the woman on the other end to bring him napkins to clean up and gives Dan his patented death glare, something the singer had not missed when they hadn’t been in his presence.

 

A young pretty girl – probably not much older than Ella – had run into the room and handed Dave the paper napkins to clean up, and the older man leered at her as if he also expected her to help him. It made Dan shudder at the thought of someone so young being at the mercy of the disgusting man he was forced to work with.

 

After the discomfort of that situation, everyone had settled back into their seats, but the terseness of the situation still hadn’t waned any.

 

“What was I thinking?” Woody asks, bringing everyone back to the question that had been posed to him. “I was thinking that Dan had had shit thrown at him for god knows how many weeks and it was time to put the record straight. You know, something that you were meant to be doing!”

 

“Dan was doing a perfectly good job from what I here,” Dave counters. “He had stuck to the rules we had decided on, and he was not causing any problems,” the manager looks at Dan, and he smirks at him.

 

“Well, considering the questions I had seen queued up on the auto-cue that was gonna change as soon as we finished,” Kyle interjects suddenly, something he didn’t like to do when he was in a situation like this. “I mean those were some personal things about Laura I had seen, and they weren’t things that had come purely from researchers, so what exactly had _you_ told them?”

 

“All the information given to the researchers was what is readily available for public reading,” he says quickly and smoothly, barely even blinking as the question was posed.

 

“What is the end game here Dave?” Will pipes up from his own seat, he was relaxing back quite calmly, not appearing to be affected by anything going on around him.

 

“The end game? It’s to get your popularity back, stop the rumours and insinuations and to let you make music,” Dave tells them. “I know what I’m doing boys, just let me work here. The record company trusts me, so won’t you?”

 

The silence following the question was deafening. None of the men in the room trusted or even liked the man in front of them, but he was right – if the record company thought he could help, maybe he could.

 

The four of them all looked at each other and communicated silently, something that had come after years of living in close proximity to each other.

 

“Fine,” Dan says finally.

 

“Good. Right. Well. Next thing that’s happening. You boys are doing support in January, but before that we need a video for Grip. Dan, you’re going to the States. Flying out this afternoon to do that and to do some publicity.”

 

“All of us?” Dan says hopefully, his anxiety making his voice crack slightly as he imagined being over there on his own for any length of time.

 

“Nope, just you. Need you to be seen without Kyle. It will help your image. Charlene is going with you.”

 

“We have the…thing…next weekend….” Kyle whispers to Dan and he suddenly remembers the reception that was due to go ahead.

 

“He’ll be back before next weekend,” Dave tells them all. “Go and pack, your itinerary is at the desk outside Dan. And no, Kyle you can’t book a ticket and go with him,” he adds, seemingly reading Kyle’s mind.

 

“I hate you,” Kyle says to Dave’s face, his expression stern and serious.

 

“I don’t need you to like me Simmons, I just need you to do what I say,” Dave says and turns to his computer, indicating to everyone in the room that the conversation was over.

 

\---

“Why do you have to go alone?” Kyle whines as he watches Dan move quickly around the room.

 

The singer was picking up and smelling different tee shirts and stuffing them into his black wheeled case packing for what he himself hoped was only going to be a short trip.

 

“I don’t fucking know Kyle,” he replies, annoyed and frustrated himself, and not in the mood to try and keep his husband happy. He has no idea why he has to go alone, he’s anxious, worried and totally confused about everything. And having to deal with a whiny Kyle was not helping. As much as he loved Kyle, he was a lot to deal with and they hadn’t been apart in so long. Somewhere deep inside he was feeling guilty that he was actually a little excited about being on his own.

 

He spins around looking for something and picks up a pair of black Vans, also throwing them into his bag and then zipping it up, making sure his padlock was firmly attached.

 

“Don’t get angry with me! I didn’t ask you to do this!” Kyle snipes back.

 

“I’m not fucking angry with you! Stop taking everything so fucking personally. It’s not always about you Kyle!”

 

“What the hell?” Kyle looks at Dan in total surprise. “Where the hell did that come from?”

 

“Forget it,” Dan mutters, picking his passport up and throwing it in his backpack. He searches and finds his larger set of headphones so he can drown out everything on the journey and puts his laptop in his bag before also zipping that up.

 

A buzzing from the front of the house lets the two know that someone is waiting for them, and Dan goes to answer it, but Kyle stops him with a hand around his wrist, his eyes wide and searching for answers.

 

“Let me go Kyle,” Dan demands, monotonely, and after a beat the other man does as he is asked and drops his hand, letting him walk out of the room with his bags trailing behind him.

 

Kyle can feel his uncertainty showing on his face, and he isn’t too sure exactly what had happened. He hadn’t had a huge argument with Dan since Ibiza, and he still has no idea exactly what he had done to deserve this treatment.

 

“Right, I’m on my way down,” he hears Dan say from the front door which spurs Kyle into action and he rushes out to see what was happening.

 

“What am I not allowed to come and see you off either now?” Kyle asks, the hurt shining through his facial expression as he stares wide eyed at his husband, who was now holding the front door open and about to leave.

 

“That’s probably not a good idea, Kyle,” Dan sighs as he looks back at him, the front door resting against his hip.

 

Kyle took the time to really look at him, now looking a lot older than his years, and his cap covering his messy hair. He walks over to him, reaching his hand out to trace the familiar profile of the man he loved and Dan winces away, causing more hurt to flare in Kyle’s eyes.

 

“Maybe us being away from each other is a good idea for a while huh?” Dan finally says and looks back at him. “It’s not as if it’s forever is it,” he says with a small smile, as if trying to apologise for something.

 

“Da-,”

 

“Kyle, I’m good, we’re good, but we need space before I explode alright?”

 

The younger man nods, his frown of confusion still prominent. He runs his hands over his beard for something to do with them and looks up as Dan smiles at him again, blows him a kiss and shuts the door on him.

 

Standing in the middle of the hallway, Kyle looks down at his two cats sitting either side of him, who just look back up at him, blinking softly.

 

“What the fuck just happened?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, these boys are stress inducing!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> Hope everyone liked the video for QPM. I love Dan's new haircut - it's awesome!
> 
> Anyway, a slightly longer chapter this time to make up for the last shorter one. Hope it's worth it.
> 
> <3

The last thing that Kyle wants to do after the weird parting between him and Dan was to go and work in a crowded, hot nightclub with a drag queen who would be better off sticking to lip syncing than singing live.

 

He had – quite surprisingly – managed to bite his lip when it came to Jason’s singing ability. Brian and Lucian had clearly been gossiping and expecting some sort of sarcastic comment since the beginning of the week, but Kyle had been as good as gold in comparison to how annoying he was in other aspects of the social interaction between them all. However, tonight he was tired, cold and severely confused with his husband, and because of that, Kyle was now feeling pissed off.

 

“Kyle, Brian wants you to try and bring the octave on that Ariana Grande song down. He’s certain that if you do that he’ll be able to hit that note,” is what he’s greeted with when he walks through the stage door at the bar that evening.

 

The weather was wet, icy and slushy and Kyle had slipped at least four times on his way over – the last time only narrowly missing falling flat on his face, which would have perfected the day he was having.

 

The considerably taller man stops immediately in his tracks and spins on one foot to face the American who had talked to him. He knows he’s not being fair, but if his friend had at least given him a moment to take off his leather jacket before annoying him like that, maybe Kyle would have given him a bit of slack.

 

Raising one dark eyebrow and pursing his lips he puts his hands on his hips and glares at Lucian as he leans against the bar.

 

“…if that’s okay with you, obviously,” he grinds out slowly, realising that Kyle was clearly annoyed about something. Kyle sarcastically nods his head back at the producer and licks his lips, about to say something in return.

 

It was at that point Jason came in to get a drink of water, head waiting for a wig and only half of his make-up done. “Lucian, quickly, I need a glass of water,” he commands, clicking his fingers at the man as he flails his arms around, trying not to touch anything. “Oh, good, you’re here,” he says as he spies Kyle. “Tonight at least play the music in a key I can sing in yeah?”

 

Blowing on his nails, clearly trying to dry them, instead of paying any attention to his surroundings, the American misses the frantic waving coming from Lucian in an attempt to stop him from saying anything else. The small group that was in the bar, now including Woody and Charlie who had walked in on the little rant that had been directed towards Kyle, was now hauntingly silent. If you listened carefully you would be able to hear the exact moment that Kyle’s tether snapped.

 

“Dude,” he says, arms folded in front of him, and his voice steely as he spoke. “You wouldn’t be able to hit that note if I cut your balls off with you still awake and with no pain relief. Me playing at a different key ain’t gonna change that.”

 

He levels his gaze at the performer who stares at him agape, clearly not knowing exactly what to say in response. “Maybe you try a song with a smaller range?” Kyle asks him rhetorically and pushes past them all roughly and towards the small green room they had all been using for the past week.

 

He storms down the dank hallways lined with framed posters of all the people who had actually performed in the venue over the years. He had spent the week looking at them all and he usually enjoyed learning about the history of their venues, but at that moment all he was thinking about was how his marriage was now over.

 

Yes, he was the more stable of the pair, but the one thing that Kyle was very good at doing was catastrophizing his own situations. He had no problems talking other people through their difficulties and making sure they could see the most likely outcomes of things, but when it came to himself – well it was very much ‘do as I say, don’t do as I do’.

 

He opened the door and looks around before he sees the collection of still water that had been left for the musicians who all shared the room. He walks to it quickly before downing half of the bottle.

 

So in his head right now, all he can think is that Dan has gone away angry with him, and when he gets back he’ll be back with divorce papers and Kyle will be out of a job, because there’s no way they would get rid of the singer and songwriter. He mentally kicks himself before he can collapse into a sobbing heap on the floor in the corner and be carted away to a mental institution – or even worse, his parent’s house. He sucks in a deep breath making sure he was ready to get extremely drunk and bury his head in the sand so that he could be ready to face what was clearly going to be coming towards him at the end of the week.

 

He pulls his phone out of his pocket and scrolls through his contacts until he finds the one he was looking for. He hits call and waits for the ringing tone to connect him.

 

“Kyle, ya fucker, where the hell have you been son?” the familiar voice answers after a couple of rings.

 

“I know, I know, the ball and chain had me tied up, but I’m free for a while. Rob, get the gang together and meet me at the address I’m gonna text you. I’m working until about half ten then I want to party,” he tells his university friend down the line.

 

“Seriously? Friday night Simmons style? Damn straight I’m gonna be there!” and there’s silence as his friend hangs up on him.

 

He had met Rob when he was at uni, and they had created a group of wild guys who went out nearly every night and ended up in ridiculous situations. Kyle still owned in a cupboard somewhere in his parent’s house a set of temporary traffic lights that he had woken up next to one night, and he still has no idea exactly how he got them home.

 

“So you are in an amazing mood tonight then,” Woody says from behind him as Kyle texts the name and address of the club to his friend who he knew would let everyone else know the plans.

 

“Yup, I’m happy and raring and ready to go,” he replies absentmindedly, before heading to the fridge and pulling out a green bottle of beer so he can start on his master plan for the night.

 

“Yeah, sure. Right Kyle,” Woody tells him with a disbelieving look on his face as he settles on one of the chairs and crosses his legs. “You know they’re out there trying to decide what song is better for them to sing. If I have to quickly learn a new fucking song in five minutes I’m blaming you,” he says and takes a drink from his own pint.

 

“Whatever, does it look like I give a shit?” Kyle says with a totally unphased look on his face.

 

Woody rolls his eyes and looks as Charlie walks in. “What’s the plan mate?”

 

“I’m gonna do backing, help her get the note,” Charlie says quickly, looking around the room and giving Kyle a worried look before getting a shake of the head from the drummer. “Time to go on anyway,” he tells them all.

 

“Fantastic!” Kyle shouts, taking a large gulp from the bottle of Stella, finishing it and then grabbing another one as they walk out the room.

 

“Kyle just slow down with that shit yeah?” is all Woody says to him, and gets a look in response. The long haired man sighs deeply. He’s seen Kyle like this before and it never ended well.

 

\---

_Eighteen Months Ago_

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Woody stands at the door of the high end mini-van they had generously been allowed to hire for the trip to Perth from the airport.

 

Face down on the small metal table, dark hair an absolute state and drool pooling from where the drummer can only assume his mouth is, Kyle had seemingly collapsed where he sat in the leather seats that adorned the back of the bus. Woody jumps onto the bus and shakes his friend forcefully, but all that happens is his head lolls to the side with a loud clanging noise. Next to him on the seat is the remains of what looks like an entire crate of beer cans.

 

“What?” Will’s head poked up behind him, trying to peer round the side of the door to see what had gotten Woody so verbal.

 

“We left him alone for an hour! A fucking hour! What the fuck has he done?” Woody throws his hands up in defeat and stalks away from the bus to try and find Dan.

 

Dan and Woody had been asked to do a small interview with the DJ’s of the festival they were playing and Will had disappeared off to have a look around at the food and drinks tents and other performers that were on stage, but Kyle had insisted he needed a quick nap, not having slept well the previous day or on the journey up to Scotland from London.

 

Dan had agreed with his friend. He had been slightly quieter than normal, but still his annoying self – cracking inappropriate jokes and clearly trying to annoy the management that were accompanying them for the day away. This was the third year they had played this particular festival, and this year they had the beautiful grounds of Scone Palace to play in. It was just the height of spring, and the weather was warm. Everyone had been happy and normal as they had arrived at the festival ground.

 

“What’s happening?” Nikki, the management assistant who had come with them, appeared as if from nowhere. Her fake tan even more startling and dark in the sunshine, and her hair was tied messily behind her head in a ponytail. She had decided that there was no need to dress up for the occasion and had on tatty three quarter length tracksuit bottoms and a tee shirt that unfortunately made her look three times her normal size.

 

“Nothing,” Will chirps from the front of the bus.

 

The woman looks at him strangely and moves towards of the bus to have a look inside – clearly aware they were hiding something. Will spots her movement and walks towards her quickly, putting an arm around her shoulder and walking her quickly away from the door.

 

“Nikki, has Dave talked to you about becoming a bit more permanent around here,” he starts to say and Woody notices how her eyes light up and her smile widens as she listens to what Will has to say.

 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” Woody chants to himself as he hits the button next to the door and it hisses and swings shut so that no one else can easily see inside before he walks off to the last place he saw the singer.

 

He finally finds him standing at the back of one of the tents chatting to one of the other acts that Woody barely recognised from some function or gig that they maybe had all played together once, about a bazillion years ago. In typical Dan fashion of course he recognised them and was obviously mud story about something that involved his friend making wild gestures with his hands and laughing wildly.

 

“…and yeah, now I stay out of them as much as I can,” he laughs at himself, and Woody rolls his eyes. Of course he would be slagging himself off at the same time as having a conversation. It was his default mode after all.

 

“Dan, mate, we need you right now,” Woody gives a slight smile to the other guy, and nods his head in greeting.

 

“Huh? Oh, alright, well I’ll catch you later?” he says to the dark haired, green eyed man who now eyed Woody suspiciously. His name was Brent? Maybe Karl? Woody shrugs internally and grabs Dan by the arm and literally drags him away.

 

“Wood? What? I was having a good time with Tom,” Dan protests loudly as he tries to keep up with the now striding long haired man.

 

“Oh, Tom!” Woody exclaims as he walks, but he doesn’t look back to see how far behind Dan actually was.

 

“For fucks sake, I run every day, how the fuck are you so much quicker than me?” Dan shouts after him.

 

“That power walk you call running is _not_ running, mate,” Woody calls back to him, but does eventually stop as he reaches the bus. Dan finally catches up to him, hands on his hips and glaring at the sarcasm that his drummer had just levelled at him. “Dan. Don’t panic,” he says when the glaring finishes.

 

“And that’s a sure fire way to make me panic,” he replies frowning.

 

“Nope, this will be fine. Look at me: big friendly letters on my forehead saying ‘don’t panic’, alright?”

 

“I got rid of her and I got black coffee,” Will appears again as if from nowhere and Dan literally jumps at the surprise. Looking at both of the more stable members of his band he looks around again and his face freezes in a frown and with his mouth open.

 

“Where’s Kyle?” he asks finally, and eyes the other two suspiciously. Woody hits the door release button and it hisses to life again before swinging open.

 

Dan eyes them again before climbing the stairs and slipping inside. He’s in there for a few moments before he reappears at the doorway and looks out at Will and Woody.

 

“What the fuck happened?” he screams at them. “Woody, he’s not waking up!” he cries again and disappears inside.

 

“I told him not to panic!” Woody says to Will whose disapproving look was visible probably from space. 

 

“Oh, yeah, good idea! Daniel never panics!” Will curses under his breath as he gets into the bus to make sure everything was alright.

 

Dan has made his way into the back of the bus and was now pushing empty beer cans off of the seat next to the synth player so he can sit down. He ignores the cold wetness seeping through his old jeans as he sits on what he can only hope is what was the remnants of one of the cans and he puts his arms around his friend.

 

“Ky, c’mon mate, wake up, yeah?” he whispers softly in his ear and starts to softly card his hand through his best friend’s hair. He didn’t know why he was surprised the dark strands were so soft.

 

All he gets in response is some snuffling from the man and a slight murmur.

 

“Kyle, please mate, wake up yeah?” Woody asks a bit more forcefully from the other side of the table, and all of them are shocked when Will drops something heavy and loud from the front of the bus.

 

That seems to have done something, as Kyle snorts loudly and jerks his head up and backwards, again causing some more jumps from the guys around him.

 

“Fuck!” Woody swears loudly and grasps his chest. “Fucking hell, Kyle!” he says angrily and Kyle looks back at him, confused and his brow furrowed as if he had absolutely no idea how he had gotten where he was.

 

“Here, drink this,” Will plonks the cardboard cup right in front of him and Kyle lifts the lid and grimaces when he smells the strong caffeine inside. “Drink it,” Will orders again and sits down on one of the front seats.

 

“What the hell happened Kyle?” Dan asks, his arm still around his shoulders and when Kyle notices, the singer drops it immediately and shifts backwards a few inches, making sure he was well out of his space.

 

Kyle groans loudly again and blows on the dark liquid before taking a sip and gasping at the heat and bitterness. “Nothing fucking happened,” he says and he takes another sip, not making the face this time. He was used to the taste of awful coffee.

 

“Really? You’ve drunk yourself into oblivion for nothing,” Woody stands with his hands on his hips, but gets a look from Dan and puts his hands up in a sigh of surrender, and back off.

 

“Guys, give me a moment yeah?” Dan asks and Will and Woody look at each other and slowly move off of the bus to go and re-group somewhere.

 

Dan waits a few minutes until he was sure they were gone and then moves to the front of the vehicle to shut the door. He can here the slurping of the coffee from behind him. Taking a deep breath and sighing softly he makes his way back to the synth player.

 

“So, you gonna tell me what happened?”

 

Kyle looks up at him from under his long dark eyelashes. Yes, he had shrunk so far into himself, his previous six foot four frame now looked way shorter than Dan’s six foot one and he looked tiny in comparison. Looking closely at him now, Dan doesn’t know why he hadn’t noticed something was wrong earlier. Kyle didn’t have bags under his eyes, he had three hold bags and a carry on under each one and his face looked slightly more gaunt even with the beard covering most of it.

 

“It’s over,” he says finally, and Dan can see the water starting to well up in Kyle’s eyes as he speaks. Dan opens his mouth to ask, but Kyle shakes his head and the tears start to fall from the corners of his eyes.

 

Not able to stop himself, the singer reaches out for him and wraps him up in his warm embrace. He can feel the warm tears and shuddering breaths wracking through Kyle’s body. Throughout the sobs all he can make out is:

 

“She left me.”

 

And hearing that makes Dan tighten his hold even more.

 

\---

“Fuck,” Woody curses under his breath and the memory of everything that had happened comes flooding back.

 

He knew that Dan and Kyle hadn’t broken up, but from what the drummer could see, something nearly as bad had. The only thing that had gotten Kyle through his last venture into oblivion had been Dan. He seriously hopes this isn’t going to go the same way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come find me on tumblr...I really don't bite!!
> 
> <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!!
> 
> So this is a birthday present for @inyourwarmth - Happy Birthday Dude!!! <3
> 
> As always please enjoy :)

“Roberto!” Kyle calls happily, making his way over to the table in the club his friends had claimed when they had arrived half an hour into the set. Kyle had spied them immediately and had waved outrageously to the loud group of guys that had come specifically to see him.

 

Once he gets to the table, he throws his arms around Rob and John – his two partners in crime – and kisses them both on the cheek in greeting. All the guys in the group were straight, but Kyle had always been touchy-feely, they were used to his ways of saying hello.

 

“Well, Dan and Will have certainly changed,” John comments as Kyle spies the shots of some pale looking liquid on the table and quickly downs two of them – tequila, as it turns out.

 

“Tell us the truth mate, it was living with you that did it right?” Rob joins in with the laughing as Kyle just rolls his eyes with a smile and helps himself to someone’s pint.

 

Rob and John were almost like twins. Both shorter than Kyle, the only real difference between them was that Rob was dark with spiked hair and John was fair with a flat bowl cut. Other than that, the shape of their eyes, the length and shape of their beards, everything seemed to be the same. It was rather impressive for two people that hadn’t met before the age of eighteen. They had gathered together another three acquaintances that Kyle knew the names of and they were already pretty rowdy by the time the music and entertainment had finished.

 

“Let’s blow this place!” Kyle shouts so he can be heard over the disco music now being played in the club, and slamming the empty glass on the table.

 

“Where we headed mate?” Rob asks him as he pulls his jacket from around the chair and starts to put it on while the rest of the group start to get themselves together.

 

“I don’t give a shit! Music, hot birds, alcohol. The three requirements,” Kyle tells him, and swings around as he feels a hand on his shoulder. Standing behind him is the long haired drummer who had been watching him ever since he literally bounced off the stage earlier.

 

Woody is also ready to go, but he has his disapproving ‘dad’ look on his face and his hands on his hips. Kyle does a double take when he realises one of his ‘work’ friends was still there – he kept his life perfectly separated between his ‘work’ friends and his ‘other’ friends. The only overlap that had actually happened was with Jools. His ‘other’ friends knew about Dan, but they hadn’t actually spent any time together. He didn’t know if he was going to get the chance to change that.

 

“Woody! Babes! How you doing?” he tries to act casually, but all he wants is to get away from anything reminding him of Dan, and the drummer in his own band is not going to help him forget about his heartache at this moment in time.

 

Woody grabs him by the arm and drags him away from the group of guys, who aren’t paying any attention to their friend being dragged away by some guy in a gay club.

 

“For fuck’s sake will you calm down with the drinking?!” Woody seethes as Kyle absentmindedly steals a drink off of the tray of a scantily clad waiter walking past with multi-coloured liquids in shot glasses all over it.

 

“What? I’m just having fun with my friends! Woody, babes, don’t be jealous, you know I still love you the best,” Kyle jokes, but he’s secretly trying to figure out a way to get away from the man in front of him as quickly as possible.

 

“Kyle, don’t fuck around. Dan’s not here, so I suppose I have to look out for you at the moment, so will you just come home and stay with me for the night or something?”

 

“Christopher, I am a grown ass man, will you leave me alone! No one asked you to ‘look after me’,” and he does literal air quotes as his anger starts to build. “I’m fine, Dan isn’t my keeper and he ain’t my carer, he’s the ass I pound most nights, so unless you want to take that role, leave me the fuck alone!”

 

He gives the man one last exasperated look as he turns and walks away from him; jogging slightly to keep up with his group of friends that had started to leave the club. He takes one look over his shoulder to make sure Woody had walked away and wasn’t following him and then hooks his arms around the shoulders of one of the men and jumped on their back to elicit some sort of reaction.

 

“Right guys, I want to get totally and utterly fucking slaughtered tonight,” he announces loudly and the door opens into the winter night.

 

\---

“No, no, no, no, no,” Kyle slurs slightly on the last no, but he’s certain no one else heard it. He’s fine anyway, he’s been well more wasted than this before now. “What you don’t understand – in fact what you don’t _kno_ w – about this guy is that he is an _amazing_ cook,” he shouts loudly over the loud banging bass in the background.

 

It is the second club they’ve been in. The one they had visited after the gay bar was far too quiet for any of the groups liking. They had had one drink, but then quickly googled where the nearest club was, and walked there as quickly as they could and with no distractions. Well, Kyle had managed to steal a traffic cone as soon as they had left the bar, and then had decided that he needed to let it fulfil its destiny.

 

“Rob, John, you see,” he had started matter-of-factly as he had picked up and hugged the orange cone tightly before walking with it hanging at his side, “is that he started life out as a traffic cone, but he clearly doesn’t want to continue life as a traffic cone!”

 

They had stopped in the middle of the road they were crossing, all the group now completely caught up in what Kyle was saying to them. As normal when he was drunk and in a group of people, he became the life and soul of the party in order to hide his own anxieties. The men had stood there flicking their eyes between the musician and the traffic cone almost as if they felt empathy for the plastic. They had all been stopped in the middle of the road and ignoring everything around them when a loud beeping sound came from behind them and they all jumped in a very undignified way before rushing over to the other side of the road, letting the clearly annoyed and frustrated drivers pass.

 

“Kyle…what are you saying his destiny is?” one of the guys that Kyle doesn’t know too well – Trevor – asks, clearly in awe of the louder and much taller man. Kyle gives the man a look, because while he has said the cone doesn’t want to be a cone anymore, he is still fully aware that what he is holding is a _traffic cone_ , and not some infinity stone that has some weird Marvel destiny. He narrows his eyes to fully take the man’s condition in and comes to the decision that maybe Trevor hasn’t just had alcohol tonight.

 

“First of all, Trevor, it is Trevor yeah?” and the slightly podgy guy just nods back at him in confirmation, “Trevor, I think maybe it’s time you go home, yeah? You don’t get out much do you?” the guy looks upset and then down at the ground as he shakes his head. “I didn’t think so, it looks like you might have had a bit too much, John get Trev a taxi yeah?” his blond friend nods and looks up and down the road, finding a black cab coming past and flagging it down for Trevor.

 

After they had safely gotten the man in the taxi, everyone looks back at Kyle and the traffic cone. Realising he was now holding court with people who were about as pissed as he was, he starts up his plan again.

 

“This, my friends, is not just a traffic cone! Well, I mean it is just a traffic cone, but it is a sad traffic cone, and I want to make it happy. Let’s go,” he announces without explaining anything else, and then leads the way at a brisk walking pace.

 

Kyle ignores any talking behind him, clearly intent on doing what he was planning on. He hadn’t had this much fun for a long time, and not having to worry about fans or Dan or pregnant crazy people was making him feel so much better than he had earlier that day.

 

He has no idea how long he walks for. He can faintly hear complaining coming from the men behind him, but he ignores it and finally comes to a stop in the middle of Leicester Square and looks triumphantly up at the pale marble face of the man in front of him.

 

“This is where he wants to be!” he announces with his arms out wide, the orange cone still in his left hand.

 

The statue he had decided upon was the large white marble centrepiece of the popular landmark. William Shakespeare leaning against a column and surveying the surrounding area. The only problem was that he would have to get across the fountain to get to Mr Shakespeare in order to give him his new adornment.

 

“Kyle, what the fuck are you gonna do?” John asks him coming up on his right side and patting him on the shoulder.

 

“We! My dear John, _we_ are going to give Shakespeare a new hat!”

 

And that is the reason that they were currently standing in the club nearest to Leicester Square with soaking wet jeans and sneakers, the shoes squeaking now every time they walked anywhere. That was also the reason they were sat on stools at a table at the corner of the dance floor and near the bar instead of dancing with the rest of the group.

 

Rob and John had stayed with Kyle who, after getting down from the fountain had been a little bit more unsteady, but also who had managed to get a number of the hotter girls to surround the table and talk to them.

 

He had called for drinks and shots to be brought to the table and the girls and the three men had now downed the majority of three bottles of prosecco and a number of vodka shots. And Kyle was now trying to act as matchmaker for his two friends.

 

“An amazing cook you say?” one of the girls purred, sliding closer to Kyle and Rob, who had Kyle’s arm slung around his shoulders as he tried to pimp him out to the first taker.

 

“Awesome cook,” Kyle reiterates, slapping the man’s chest. “Brilliant, amazing and hands down the best fucking crackers I have ever tasted,” he says emphatically. “Paul Hollywood would be jealous,” he says and nods his head.

 

The red head nodded along with everything that he was saying as she moved in closer towards him, sliding in between his legs where he was sitting on the stool. Without even realising it, she slid a blood red manicured hand up the inside of Kyle’s thigh so it was almost sitting on his crotch.

 

“What about your cooking?” she leans in and whispers seductively in the musician’s ear, but Kyle just leans backwards away from her, his drunken brain not realising that she was actually coming on to him.

 

“Mine sucks,” he says and looks at her confused. That’s when he realises her hand is slowly running backwards and forwards over his cock. “Woah, what’s happening?” he says and the girl reaches up to try and press her lips against his own.

 

“Kyle,” he suddenly feels a hand on his shoulder, pulling him backwards and he spins on the stool, almost making him more dizzy than he was just sitting there. “Are you fucking kidding me right now? Cheating on Dan?” Woody’s face is bright red and Kyle scan see the absolute anger there despite the darkness and strobe lighting.

 

“What the fuck? Woody, why are you here?” he says, clearly angry that he had been followed when he was trying to get away from anything _work_ or _Dan_ related for the evening.

 

“Following you! And it’s a fucking good thing I did! Fucking kissing tramps Kyle? Seriously?”

 

“Hey!” the girl cries from behind them.

 

“I wasn’t fucking kissing anyone!” Kyle shouts back, indignant that Woody would even think that of him.

 

“Yeah, sure, alright,” Woody scoffs back at him, his hands squeezing into fists as he gets angrier at Kyle’s denials.

 

“I wasn’t! Fucks sake Woody I told you to leave me alone, so why haven’t you?”

 

He tries to turn and get away from his friend and disappear to the bar, but that was when Woody grabs onto his forearm. Kyle reacts immediately. His lizard brain kicking in because his conscious brain was so soaked in alcohol by this point he couldn’t think straight even if he wanted to.

 

Feeling the pull on his arm, he swings around and swings his arm towards the drummer and aims directly for his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the statue that Kyle ended up at:  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_William_Shakespeare,_Leicester_Square
> 
> Hope you liked this, as always comments makes me write faster and I love reading all of them :)
> 
> <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know! What is this? Two chapters in one week you say?
> 
> <3

In a large house in a cul de sac on the outskirts of a small Kent village, a tall, blond, very familiar woman was sitting, sipping from a small espresso cup of coffee on a large soft leather sofa. She was dressed in baby silk pyjamas and covered up with a light, feather edged house coat, made of satin and was curled up daintily in the corner of the large piece of furniture.

 

She was alone – her unsuspecting older husband out at his weekly meeting of the Rotary club or whatever it was he did on a Friday night. She couldn’t care less, the least amount of time she had to look or be around that old coot, the better. She was missing her only daughter, that much was true, but seeing as she had completely gone against everything they had decided was best for her life, she could deal with any of the consequences that came her way.

 

Margaret was not used to losing. She got what she wanted and goddam anyone who got in her way. She was so caught up in trying to destroy Daniel Smith now, that nothing else mattered. She knew her husband was suspecting something about what she was up to, but she was able to keep his questions at bay for now. She was a woman after all, so when his questions became a bit too probing, she would just use her ‘feminine wiles’ as it were and distract him. She hated doing it, but when needs must.

 

She downs the last of her cup as she listens to her part time lover tell her exactly what had happened down the phone. She had no idea where Dave had managed to get this information from but he had and she was thrilled with the outcome.

 

“David, this is amazing! I mean you said as soon as they were apart he would fall apart, but seriously fighting in public? And with women all over him? No one in their right mind would believe he didn’t sleep with Laura now!” she cackles as she imagines Smith’s face when he sees the news either in America or when he gets back.

 

“So I did well sending Dan away on his own then?” Dave was always making sure he was doing the right thing. He craved the attention and praise from the woman, something she secretly thought was weak of the man, but he was also a means to an end at the moment so she had to keep him sweet.

 

“Oh, baby, of course you did,” she croons down the handset to him, rolling her eyes at the same time, happy that he couldn’t see her. “Now let me tell you exactly what I’m going to do with you as soon as I see you…”

 

Well, a girl has to do what girl’s got to do.

 

\---

Groaning loudly, Kyle cracks his sleep encrusted eyes open as bright rays hit his face full force. He can feel the pounding in his head like someone had shrunk Woody and installed him in there with his drum kit, and he turns in the bed, burrowing his head under the pillow that he finds there.

 

Lying prone on his front he takes a deep breath in, expecting to smell the familiar, glorious scent of his husband. He may not be in bed with him, but by god his smell would stay until he got back.

 

The whiff he got however was not one he was either expecting or used to. A light floral scent hit his nose, something that smelled like it had been put in with the wash, and it was not Kyle’s normal Persil smell. Frowning, he sniffs again, and gets the same light fragrance, so he pushes himself back in the bed until he is on his knees, and the pillow that was covering his head crashes to the floor, thankfully not hitting anything on the way down. He sits back on his feet and looks around the room.

 

He takes it all in – the unfamiliar light purple grey covering the walls; the white sash windows looking out onto a view that was not his own; the stripped floorboards with soft, fluffy rugs covering them. The side tables were white painted wood and looked like they were antiques or at least reclaimed and the mirrored wardrobe didn’t look nearly big enough to hold all of Kyle and Dan’s clothes.

 

Looking down he sees he’s still dressed in the clothes he had worn yesterday, but someone had taken off his shoes and placed them on the floor next to the bed. There was a towel on the radiator under the window and a stripped wooden door at the end of the bed that was slightly open and leading to an en-suite shower room.  

 

“Where the fuck am I?” he mumbles to himself as he gets out of bed and walks over to pick up the towel and look out of the window. He looks out upon a long pier, golden beach and the sea beyond. At the end of the pier stands the familiar pavilion that was recognisable to anyone who had ever even heard of Brighton. “Oh, crap how the hell did I end up here?” he moans and hits his head against the pane of glass.

 

Sighing, he picks up the towel and notices Woody’s black 9:30 club t-shirt underneath and smiles at himself as he grabs that too and walks into the shower to freshen up and feel a bit more normal.

 

He strips his stinking clothes off of his body and climbs into the single shower cubicle. He turns the water on scolding hot and lets it run over him, almost burning him raw until he felt a bit more human. He finds and uses the pina colada smelling shower wash and scrubs himself until he can no longer smell stale beer and cigarettes on his skin and makes sure his hair is clean before stepping out of the shower and drying himself off quickly. The borrowed shirt sticks to where he hasn’t dried himself properly and he pulls his jeans back on, admittedly choosing to go commando.

 

He looks himself in the mirror and swills some mouthwash around his mouth, and when he feels a bit more human he walks into the bedroom to look for his mobile. He searches thoroughly for it, but can’t find it anywhere. Deciding Woody must have taken it for safe keeping, he walks towards the door of the bedroom and into the upper hallway.

 

He can hear laughing and the familiar sounds of a family in the morning drifting up from downstairs. He had been to Woody’s house a handful of times in the past for parties, but had never been upstairs before or seen more than the garden. He gingerly walks down the creaky staircase and towards where the talking was coming from. He can smell freshly ground coffee brewing as well, and he’d be lying if that also didn’t contribute to him getting there quickly.

 

“Ah, sleeping beauty awakes,” Chrissy says as she sees Kyle walking towards the dining room.

 

Kyle gives her a shy smile as he walks in and he takes in the grand looking room with a bit of a gasp. It took up the entire back of the house, and had doors that opened up onto the large back garden. The roof had an orangery roof built into it and it was clearly the heart of the home.

 

Sitting at the large table were two young children just looking back at him. Kyle had seen the kids once or twice in the past but they never really knew who he was. “Guys, why don’t you disappear for a moment, I think Dad wants to speak to his friend for a moment,” Chrissy says to them and they jump down from the table and escape from the room, eyeing the tall man closely.

 

They almost barrel into the drummer who shouts at them to calm down as he walks into the room from elsewhere.

 

“Aha, you are alive then,” he says. He has an Adidas cap on his head, his long flowing hair tucked behind his ears and his normal black jeans with a white t-shirt covered in palm trees all over it.

 

Chrissy clears her throat to get Kyle to walk over to the table and sit down. She puts down a cup in front of him with a couple of slices of toast and settles down with the two men.

 

Kyle rubs his face with his hands and stirs milk and sugar into his cup before taking a small sip and groaning at the bitterness waking him up.

 

Woody watches him closely with his arms crossed before saying anything else.

 

“You remember anything about last night?”

 

“Uhm, alcohol? Maybe?” he replies, spreading the toast and taking a bite. “How the hell did I end up in Brighton?” he says swallowing his mouthful.

 

“You do not want to know that story,” Woody tells him and Chrissy nods emphatically next to her husband. “Kyle are you sure you have no idea what happened?”

 

“Nah mate. I saw you at the club then we left and I had a few somewhere and that’s the last thing I remember,” he says matter of factly, as if missing large parts of his evenings out was something that happened all the time. “Have you got my phone?” he asks him.

 

Woody pulls the handset out of his pocket and sets it down next to him. “Dan’s been ringing, but I didn’t answer,” he tells him. Kyle slides it into his own pocket nodding and just goes back to eating. Everything about Dan had come flooding back to him when he was in the shower, and that was one thing he didn’t need to think about right now.

 

“You tried to deck me, mate,” Woody suddenly says without preamble.

 

A look of shock settles on Kyle’s face as he drops his piece of toast and his mouth hangs open.

 

“Aw, mate, at least swallow first,” Woody tells him, putting a hand up to hide the half chewed bread in his friend’s mouth.

 

“I did what?” Kyle finally says after he composes himself.

 

“You got pissed off with me and tried to punch me,” the drummer tells him with a slight smile. “You missed spectacularly by the way,” he adds and scoffs.

 

“What did you do to make me want to do that?”

 

“I did nothing, you had girls dripping off of you and I asked you what you were doing,” he explains and Kyle flushes red with embarrassment.

 

“Did I do anything with them?” he asks, now very worried he may have cheated on his husband.

 

“Not according to the guys you were with,” Woody says. “I didn’t see anything, but one girl was close to shoving her tongue down your throat. Your friends say you were pushing her off though when I came over.”

 

Kyle sighs with relief. He knows he would never cheat on Dan if he was in his right mind, but he honestly can’t remember the night before and he has bad memories of the morning he woke up with a naked Ella flying through his mind.

 

“Something’s happened and you’re gonna tell me what before I let you go anywhere near your house alone,” Woody says to his friend kindly, but firmly. “I’m not letting you get like that again, and if Dan isn’t here to keep you straight,” Kyle laughs at the irony of the statement, “then I’m gonna have to do it,” Woody finishes with finality.

 

Taking another bite of his food and a gulp of his coffee, Kyle looks at him resigned. He takes a deep breath and explains everything from the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so I know that there is not a lot of action happening so far and a lot of explanation going on...It is going to get faster I promise!!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, as always please let me know
> 
> <33


	6. Chapter 6

“So, you think he’s gone to America to get a divorce and leave you?”

 

Kyle looks at his long haired friend and contemplates what he’s actually asking, before pushing the remainder of his pecan slice around the paper it had been served to him on. He looks around the busy café to see if anyone was listening in. The room was filled with pensioners mainly getting their lunch for a Saturday. Woody and Kyle had grabbed the empty two seater table in the back corner of the shop, and were huddled together talking like it was some huge conspiracy. Woody takes a sip of his drink as he looks back at him expectantly.

 

“Well, yeah, basically,” he mumbles, finally confirming his worst fear that had just been spelled out to him.

 

“You’re a fucking idiot do you know that,” Woody announces, loud enough that two elderly ladies, probably in their early seventies, in contrasting skirt suits and matching blue rinses look over and tut loudly, giving a judgemental glare at the same time. The drummer flashes a beaming smile at him before angling his chair slightly further towards Kyle and talking again. “Dan has gone to the States to _work_ ,” he says, clearly getting frustrated that even though his two friends were now married he still had to explain this to them. “He was pissed he was going alone and he couldn’t be arsed dealing with you. You on the other hand were understandably pissed you couldn’t just book a flight and go with him, and basically you’ve ended up completely misunderstanding the situation and jumped immediately to the totally wrong conclusion!” He stops to take a breath while Kyle takes in all the information he had just been given.

 

Kyle thinks, and he can feel his forehead screw up in confusion as he actually listens to what he has been told. “So Dan doesn’t hate me?” he says slowly.

 

Woody huffs a loud sound of annoyance and grabs Kyle’s shoulders, making the taller man look directly at him. “Mate, that man couldn’t hate you if you killed his entire family,” he tells him, sincerely at that. “Dan has had it bad for you since you met, and he actually thinks the sun shines out of your skinny arse,” and another tut comes from the two older women.

 

“Why am I in Brighton?” Kyle laments at the noise and looks over to the women, who quickly go back to their soup and sandwiches.

 

“Because it was this or Katie Hopkins writing a column about you in the Mail about how the homoerotic subtext of all modern left wing music is destroying London as we know it,” Woody deadpans and looks at him. “Yes, she was actually in that club mate,” he adds as Kyle opens his mouth to say something droll in response.

 

“Okay, wow. Hello Brighton, then,” Kyle says after leaving his mouth open for a moment. “I don’t have to stay here long do I?” he adds in a slight whisper. “I feel like I’ve aged twenty years since I sat down,” and Woody swats his shoulder, chuckling along.

 

“Stay the weekend, talk to Dan,” Woody suggests with a shrug, and even though he missed the business of his own home city, Kyle finds himself agreeing with a small smile.

 

\---

First thing on Monday morning and Dan wakes up with a start. He had been in Los Angeles for about forty-eight hours and he was still feeling severely jet lagged. Usually when he had made the trip across the Atlantic he had Kyle or one of the other guys with him. This time he had been given to two girls – he refused to acknowledge they were adults when they giggled every time Dan smiled at them – that he couldn’t stand to be around when he was at his best.

 

He had slogged through the customs at LAX – one thing he still hated doing with an absolute passion – and had managed to check into the relatively nice four-star hotel that the record company had forked out for. He knew it hadn’t been Dave who had booked it, because if it was, he would be sharing an eight bedded dorm in a flea infested hostel. The weekend had consisted of Dan staying in his room watching shitty American reruns, helping himself to the mini bar and avoiding Nikki and Charlene completely.

 

He missed Kyle. That was the long and the short of it. And he hated having to do anything work related without his best friend and partner with him. He had been spoiled over the past year and now he had to deal with a week in America with people he hated and to top it all off shoot a video which he enjoyed almost as much as visiting his own dentist.

 

He groans loudly as he pulls himself out of the bed that hadn’t been made in two days. He had shoved the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door and locked it from the inside and had had no one bother him since he arrived. He had had a few phone calls from Woody – apparently Kyle had assumed the worst when he had left in a bad mood and he didn’t want Dan to see anything that could be taken the wrong way.

 

He soaks himself in the enormous waterfall shower and dresses in somewhat suitable clothes for what he had planned for the day. He looks at the clock flashing ‘4:45’ in red digital letters and he curses himself for insisting to drink as much as he had the night before. Kyle still hadn’t rung, and he was thinking that maybe he had done something that would be irreparable to his husband.

 

Throwing his cap on his head and rolling the sleeves of his long sleeved tee shirt up to his elbows, he puts his wallet and his phone in his back pocket and slides silently as possible out of the hotel room that had become his cave.

 

Charlene had attempted to contact him by text, but he had steadfastly ignored the girl. Finally, she had gotten the hint and had just sent a final message telling him when to be in the lobby for and left him to wallow.

 

The lift doors slide open and standing at the front desk was both Charlene and Nikki looking for all the world like they had stepped off the front cover of In Style and giggling even more like schoolgirls than normal.

 

A mini-bus had been sent to pick them up, and it was also waiting at the front of the hotel, the concierge holding the door open for them to climb in and get taken to their destination. Dan settled in himself next to the window so he could watch the scenery pass and taps the shoulder of the driver.

 

“Mate, do you know how long the drive is gonna be?” he asks politely with his normal shy smile and the driver tells him the journey was going to be about an hour, which meant Dan had time to put some music on and completely switch off from the others around him.

 

He put his headphones in his ears and leant his forehead against the window to try and get some more sleep, but before he was able to even press play on his Spotify, all he could hear from behind him was gasps from the girls.

 

For all they knew he was sleeping and not paying attention, but something in the noises they were making made him feel like he had to listen into the conversation.

 

“So he went out and pulled some hooker?” Nikki asks, clearly shocked at the revelation.

 

“Seems to be,” Charlene says, obviously as excited as she could possibly be. “Someone on Twitter found these photos on his friend’s insta,” she adds and Dan can imagine her showing whatever photos to the other girl.

 

“So what, they come out as married on Friday, and by Saturday morning he’s off dipping his wick elsewhere? Fuck, that’s sick,” Nikki’s disgusted tone was clear even through Dan’s headphones. He grunts softly and shifts position. In doing so he can hear the girls quieting each other until he calms down.

 

“I can’t believe anyone would cheat on him,” Charlene says a bit more softly once they had determined Dan wasn’t going to turn around. “Do you think that’s why he’s been so off all weekend?”

 

“What you think he knows?” Nikki asks. “Possibly, you never know. Or maybe they’ve got some sort of agreement that they can do whatever they want when the other one’s not around?”

 

“Oh! Maybe!” Charlene says and sounds almost intrigued now. “I mean look at that Laura.”

 

“Yeah, but they’re adamant she’s crazy though.”

 

“Yeah, but wouldn’t you if you had some weird agreement and then a baby comes into it?” Charlene giggles slightly at the thought. “Maybe this week isn’t going to be so bad,” she adds wistfully and she and Nikki both giggle together, leaving Dan to wonder exactly what the two of them were planning.

 

He pulls his phone put discreetly and pulls up the one person he knew would be able to do something discreetly.

 

_Dan – I need you to look into these two bints I have with me. Find out anything you can. I don’t trust them._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm...who could Dan have texted?
> 
> Hope you enjoyed reading and thanks for clicking on even if you didn't :p
> 
> <33


	7. Chapter 7

Dan stands in front of the large mirror in his hotel room and stares at himself in the reflection. Sighing loudly, he runs his hand over his newly shaved head, and he finds himself missing the familiar long quiff he had become so used to. He was exhausted from the constant need to ‘be on’ throughout the entire shoot of the day, and the worst thing was he was due to meet everyone at a nearby club, so that the record company could ‘schmooze’ with the video director and show their visiting talent some hospitality. He usually had no problems with the celebrating and partying, but at the same time he usually had his friends and trusted people with him to help him if he got too overwhelmed.

 

He checks his phone for the thousandth time in the past hour. He hadn’t been able to do much with his mobile for the day. He had snapped a couple of pictures to put on Instagram to show the people still following him that something was happening, but he hadn’t been able to really talk to anyone.

 

The reply he got from his earlier text had been:

 

_‘I’m in Ohio, what the hell do you expect me to do about it?’_

He had replied slightly angrily to his sound man. He knew Coop would be able to find something out for him, even if he was thousands of miles away from the UK. He still hadn’t had a response and he assumed that meant that he was currently looking into it for him.

 

He scrolls into his favourite contacts and sees Kyle’s name sitting at the top with the familiar ICE in front of it. He sucks in some air before hitting the ring button and hoped he wasn’t going to be waking his husband up. He couldn’t be bothered trying to figure out the time difference and all he wanted was to speak to his best friend.

 

He listens to the familiar dial tone as he waits for Kyle to answer, but it immediately goes to voicemail, knowing that his husband had sent him there. He looks at his phone screen and feels his forehead scrunch into a frown as he tries to decide exactly why Kyle wasn’t talking to him.

 

Deciding that he would try anything to contact him and get a response, he brings up the Twitter app on his phone. He quickly looks at the timeline and notifications from the people he actually followed and finds nothing of interest at all. He had been tagged in a number of photos according to the app, and he clicks on a couple of them and they all seem to be the same picture of Kyle with a woman extremely close to him and wrapped around him.

 

Yes, it did look compromising and he could see the anger that his fans were throwing towards his husband and some worry from others. He could see Kyle’s face though, and even if he considered himself stupid in some respects, he knew how to speak and read ‘Kyle’ and knew purely from the look on his face and where his hands were placed that the woman was way into him than he was into her. He scoffs lightly at some of the comments, but one in particular caught his eye.

 

_‘do I have to be subjected to people like this on my timeline? Their music sucks and I shouldn’t have to see it’_

 

He didn’t recognise the handle, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t a fan. Using his well-worn lurking skills, he goes in to see the user, but he clearly was not someone who listened to them regularly if at all, and that made Dan feel a lot happier about replying to him.

 

_@bastilledan – do I have to be subjected to bigotry like this on my timeline? If you don’t like it, block it. Or don’t reply to the person who’s tagged in the photo._

He hits send and ignores anything else that happens next. He didn’t often bite back to insults, but he was getting really pissed off with everything going on. Finally bringing up a new tweet, he starts to type:

 

_@bastilledan – ok @Kyle_JSimmons have a surprise for you when I get home…_

and he leaves it at that as he clicks his phone onto standby and shoves it in his pocket.

 

He changes his shirt into something a bit more respectable for going out in, but leaves his jeans and faded Converse on before heading out to meet the rest of the group in the hotel lobby.

 

\---

They arrived at their destination and met up with the small group of music executives who were actually available for networking. All of them sauntered past the long line of beautiful women and men waiting outside, and Dan felt totally out of place with his ratty jeans and oversized tee shirt he had decided to wear. He felt the bouncers eye him up as if they had no idea why he was hanging around with the expensive crowd walking inside.

 

Inside the darkness, around the throng of undulating bodies surrounding him, he could feel his anxiety starting to lessen as he became more and more anonymous – every other person thought they were something big and he was largely ignored by everyday people who didn’t think seeing a celebrity was important. That and in the grand scheme of things, he was barely a blip on their register. He listens and starts to nod his head to the beat of the familiar music blaring through the large speakers.

 

Nikki and Charlene were the only two people who seemed remotely excited to be anywhere near him and thus he ended up avoiding the two of them like the plague.

 

Talking of the two girls, they had really gone all out for their exciting evening out with Dan and the record company. Both of them had clearly decided the shorter the skirt and the lower the top was the best way to look good, and unfortunately for at least one of them, the assumption was wrong.

 

Nikki was in a black skin tight mini dress that hugged all the wrong places and looked like it was at least one size too small for her. Her breasts had been pushed up so that was essentially the first thing anyone noticed about her, but they weren’t contained in anyway and looked as if they could escape at any moment.

 

Charlene’s dress at least seemed to fit her – and possibly to a straight man it might actually be a very nice look – but all Dan could see was a girl trying far too hard for attention. It reminded him so much of Sharon when they first met her, only Sharon at least had a slight touch of class around her. The problem was that every time Dan looked her way, one of the strobe lights seemed to hit the sequins on it and blind him, which meant he either had to never look at her or stand very close to her to not be laser blinded.

 

He was given a number of drinks from his hosts, and he did his dutiful musician act – being as humble as he could be for the studio executives lavishly throwing money around like it was going out of fashion. He thinks to himself that Dave would be having the time of his life if he was there, and it surprised him that he hadn’t taken the advantage to come for this as he had so many times in the past. He was mid conversation with one of the older men that had joined them. From afar Dan had picked him out as being possibly one of the least smarmy and annoying of the ones who had turned up. Unfortunately, all the people that the singer did get on well with at the record company had had to rain check the invitation as it was so short notice.

 

Cristal was flowing freely and Dan watched as his barely empty glass was topped up for maybe the third time in quick succession. He had sat down next to the orange tanned, grey haired man, with the neck of his shirt unbuttoned slightly too low and he had struck up a conversation about something that Dan definitely knew a lot about and that was David Lynch and his whole genre. He wasn’t too sure if he had actually let the other guy get a word in edge ways but, he was laughing, and appeared to be following what was being said. It was when he laughed a bit too hard and then lay his hand on the younger man’s shoulder and left it there, gently caressing where it touched that Dan suddenly got very freaked out.

 

Thankfully, it was at that moment that one of the more inebriated girls stumbled over to him and collapsed into Dan’s lap, throwing her arms around his neck and laughing loudly. He didn’t think he had ever been so happy to see Charlene in all his life as he glances over to the man next to him who was looking more and more like he had sucked a raw lemon. Disguising his sigh of relief, he places his hands on Charlene’s thighs, her dress having ridden up as she landed on him. The man next to him watches the movement and turns his back on him, clearly realising his advances were unwelcome.

 

Dan had barely touched any of the alcohol after his first few drinks. He had an exclusive performance to do the following morning for one of the local radio shows, and the last thing he wanted to be was too hungover for that. So he was in total control and knew exactly what he was doing with what happened next.

 

“Danny, come and dance with me,” she whispered into Dan’s ear as seductively as someone who appeared to have drunk the majority of the bar could do. Dan felt as her loose blond hair tickled at his nose, and he fought the desire to push her off and as far away as possible.

 

Dan hated that nickname. It reminded him so much of the bullies he had to put up with throughout high school. For some reason they had chosen him as their victim – the slightly overweight kid with glasses who liked doing his homework. Of course he was going to be the one they all picked on. He manages to bite down the normal comeback he had when he heard it, and just slides the girl off of him and as she looks at him questioningly, he bites his lip as he grabs her hand and pulls her towards the dancefloor.

 

As soon as they are on the floor and surrounded by bodies gyrating around them, Charlene grabs Dan by the hips and pulls him flush against her back and Dan can hear the moan that she lets slip as she starts to sway and move to the music, trying to get the singer to join in. Dan knows she isn’t going to get what she wants, and she realises soon that he isn’t moving the same way she is. Charlene turns until she is chest to chest with him and places her hands on the back of the singer’s neck, pulling his head closer to hers.

 

“Come on Dan, you know you want this,” he hears her say, and then she puts his hands on her backside, shimmying it to try and get him to do something in response.

 

“Charlene, I’m with Kyle, you know this!”

 

“Well he’s with other girls, so why does he get to have all the fun?” she asks and crashes her lips to his mouth and starts trying to get Dan to open up for her.

 

Dan immediately freezes and refuses to even move slightly. He knows he has somewhat brought this upon himself, but the girl in front of him, now attacking him was drunk. Firstly, he wasn’t going to take advantage of her and secondly, he wasn’t interested in any way shape or form.

 

After a few moments of Dan acting like a statue, Charlene pulls away quickly and looks up at him. Seeing the look of pity that Dan knows is all over his face she puts her fingers to her lips and her mouth opens in a look of total shock and horror.

 

“Charlene –“ Dan tries to say something – anything – to make this better for the girl. It appeared she had finally realised what everyone had been telling her all along.

 

She holds up her other hand and quickly flees from the dancefloor, leaving Dan to stand there completely alone and surrounded by other drunk dancers, ignoring whatever had just happened.

 

Huffing a sigh of frustration, he scrubs his hand over his short hair and face and looks around blankly, not too sure what to do next. He looked over at where the rest of the group were. They didn’t appear to be too worried about his current whereabouts and he missed exactly where Charlene had escaped to, so he walks towards the exit to try and get some fresh air and cool down after the blistering heat of being inside such a crowded place.

 

Pushing through couples and groups of drunken dancers, he eventually gets outside, where the queue hadn’t appeared to have lessened at all. Turning left he ends up down an alleyway empty of anything but the dumpsters for the club, and he leans against the brick walls to try and cool down.

 

Pulling out his phone he notices a few notifications from the few people he hadn’t muted on twitter.

 

_@Woodybangsthedrums – I’ve told you before I don’t need to hear what you two get up to when you’re alone…_

 

In response to Dan’s tweet to Kyle from earlier in the evening. He grins at his friend’s sarcasm and hits like.

 

_@bastilledan – you’re just jealous and you know it_

 

He replies, giggling at the comment. But it was the second comment on the tweet that caught his attention.

 

_@Kyle_JSimmons – well get home already and show me babes. Kettle’s on and waiting for you_

 

The whole thing lit Dan up inside. It was the first time Kyle had contacted him since he left. He knew deep down that Kyle was still his, but this finally confirmed that Dan’s little walk out hadn’t caused a rift too big to fix. He leans his head back until he can feel the wall behind it and almost squeals with how happy he was.

 

But before he was able to do anything or even like the reply, his phone trills in his hand with the ringtone assigned to his sound man.

 

“Hey Coop,” he answers quickly, hoping that his friend had found something out for him.

 

“Right, you do realise that when I’m not working with you I have my own life and other people I need to work with too, right?” Coop rages down the phone, but Dan knew the man well enough to know that this was just something he was going to have to sit through until he told him exactly why he had called.

 

“I know, I know, I’m sorry mate, but I really needed info and you’re the only one I trust to get it for me.”

 

“Yeah, well you’re lucky I like you,” the man admits. “So it was surprisingly easy to find stuff if you know where to look,” he tells him and Dan can feel himself nodding along as he listens to the faded Birmingham accent. “And there’s something big dude, seriously.”

 

“What?” Dan’s ears prick up at the man admitting there was something that he didn’t know.

 

“Charlene’s dad…is Dave,” he says and Dan sucks in a breath, about to say something. “No, Dan that’s not the big thing,” Coop stops him. “Dave’s got two daughters. The other one is Sharon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I wasn't allowed to not have the hair cut in this apparently ;P
> 
> Thanks for reading and let me know what you think, even if its to just say hi! I don't bite <3


	8. Chapter 8

Dan picks up one of the Danish pastries and he has to hold in the overwhelming desire to hit it against the edge of the table to see how hard it actually was. The stale delicacy in his hand had clearly been laying out on uncovered generic white plates for a while – the long table set up nicely with a fresh white table cloth and covered in fruit, cereal, bagels and treats for all of the people about to clamber into the room to listen to the singer play. He wasn’t up for this at all, but here he was at some ungodly hour in the morning, ready to welcome the twenty fans who had won tickets to see him live.

 

Because it was for a breakfast radio show, the meet and greet had to be held within the broadcast times of the show so that the studio could cut to them every so often and put one of his songs on the air. So this was why he was bleary eyed and judging an unsuspecting pastry while he waited for the borrowed keyboard to arrive so he could set up on the small stage that had been erected in the corner of the large magnolia room. The studio had booked a room at one of the city centre hotels near the radio station to host this impromptu performance. Nikki had suggested that they just use one of the available conference rooms in their own hotel, but Dan quickly put a stop to that, not wanting to invite anymore crazy stalker fans to interfere with his already drama filled life.

 

Sighing loudly, he picks up one of the available paper plates and starts loading it up with the fresher looking items from the table. He desperately tries to calm his nerves as he thinks about every conceivable thing that could go wrong for him today and what possible questions he might be asked during the hour he was going to be there. All he knew for certain were the songs he wanted to sing, and everything else was a complete surprise for him. And not having control was one of his biggest fears.  

 

He walks over to the neatly placed chairs and relaxes in the front row. He manages to balance his drooping plate in one hand as he scratches at the back of his neck; the short strands of hair now annoying him as they catch on the back of his orange t-shirt. The cap on his head covers the rest of his shaved hairstyle – something the record company had decided would be a good thing for him to hide until the video came out. It still hadn’t been announced that Grip was the new single, so the whole thing was meant to surprise the old fans and grab new ones. Dan could understand the theory, but he was a horrible liar and knew he was going to have an awful time at keeping this a secret. It was hard enough with his relationship with Kyle.

 

The door at the corner of the room bursts open and a man – who Dan can only assume works at the hotel, judging by the yellow polo shirt, khaki slacks and gold plated name badge on his chest – comes striding in, a long box in both hands and he sets it down on the edge of the stage before he looks around the room and catches Dan lazily lounging on the red and copper padded chairs.

 

“Are you Mr Smith?” the strong American accent catches Dan unawares and he starts slightly, almost losing his bright red shining apple from the edge of the plate.

 

“Uhm, yep, that’s me,” Dan replies quickly, looking around him at the same time to make sure there was definitely not anyone else in the room that he could be talking to.

 

“Awesome, some girl at the desk asked me to bring you this,” the man drawls at him, before spinning in one place and then striding back out of the room again.

 

Dan watches after him, brow furrowed and confused, but sets his array of fruit and bread down on the seat next to his and walks over to the brown parcel that had ostensibly been delivered to him.

 

Thankfully the box wasn’t sealed so he didn’t have to worry about finding scissors or keys to break through the industrial strength parcel tape used on these kinds of things. He hopes that it is a keyboard as he glances at his watch and realising how close to show time it was starting to get. He had watched as the guys had set up the wiring around him and now it was merely a case of getting the instrument in place for him. He pulls the flap up and glances into it, holding his breath.

 

“What the fuck is this?” he shouts to no one in particular.

 

The door opens again at that precise moment to two giggling women waltzing through it as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Nikki and Charlene both stop when they see Dan glaring at them as he looms over the box. He sees the flush of pink as Charlene quickly glances away from him again, clearly remembering the kiss and his rejection.

 

“Seriously, guys, what the actual fuck is this?” he asks again, letting the flap of the box fall back onto the keyboard that he found inside.

 

“What?” Nikki asks, indignantly. “That’s your keyboard, Daniel, you know, that thing you’re meant to be playing today,” she talks down to him as if he was a child and Dan manages to restrain the instant urge to slap her senseless.

 

He reopens the cardboard box again and pulls the instrument out with one hand, before placing it forcefully onto the table that had been set up for him to play at. The keyboard was a black Casio, but those were the only good things about it. He looked at the demo buttons all over it and he pinches the bridge of his nose to try and stop the stress headache attempting to break through.

 

“It’s not even full size,” Dan says to Nikki as she looks at him completely unaware of what the problem was. “I can get a better one from Argos for fifty quid,” he adds and shakes his head as he bends down to plug it into the power so he can at least listen to the sound it made.

 

Switching it on he presses a couple of keys and cringes as the tinny noise comes out of the machine. He rolls his eyes and looks at the larger of the two women staring at him.

 

“What? It sounds like a keyboard,” Nikki shrugs and turns to go and look at the rest of the set up.

 

Dan raises his eyes to the back wall, trying to calm his inner annoyance and then looks at Charlene who guiltily walks away from him. He had to deal with the new information he had of the girl, but right now was clearly not the time to do that.

 

“Do we have time to get another one?” Dan asks, after releasing a frustrated noise.

 

“Nope, deal with it mate,” Nikki calls back and Dan shoots her back a death glare that would have killed anyone within a ten-foot radius if looks were able to kill.

 

He sighs and pushes the main demo button. Bursting from the crap speakers was “The House of the Rising Sun” in half speed and with a really poor approximation of a harpsichord sound.

 

“Dan, they’re looking for you,” Charlene shyly tells him from across the room, and Dan looks over at her again.

 

“Wow, this day’s already going worse than I thought it was gonna,” he mutters as he pushes past the blond and out of the room.

 

\---

The time passes far too quickly for Dan’s liking and before he knows it he’s walking into the room to squealing and clapping from the select group of fans that had made it in. He did, surprisingly, recognise a couple of the people sitting in the room. He doesn’t know why but he’s always surprised that some of the fans will do anything to see them perform, and he smiles to himself when he realises that for the millionth time.

 

He thanks every God he can think of that he manages to get onto the stage without falling or tripping and he settles himself behind the ridiculous keyboard he had been given.  Sitting down on a bench that had also been provided for him, he makes sure the keyboard is switched on and tests the keys again in a couple of chord progressions. He raises his eyebrows, almost in disgust as he listens to the crap sound again but then bends forward towards the microphone.

 

“You alright?” he asks the group at large and he listens as the crowd murmurs and shouts back in reply.

 

 _“I love you Dan!”_ comes from someone in the crowd and Dan smiles, self-deprecatingly and listens as the rest of the – mainly girls – laugh at the scream.

 

“Aw, thanks, I love you too,” he replies, almost automatically. “Right, well, thanks for coming to see…well, me really,” he starts with a small giggle. “So because it’s just me this stuff might sound more depressing than normal, just a warning alright?”

 

The group laugh again at his words, and he quirks his mouth in worry. He wasn’t lying. He is absolutely certain that this set is going to be awful for them, but instead of saying anything else he launches straight into Glory.

 

For the next three songs he was able to forget about everyone and everything going on. It was him, his crappy keyboard and his own music. It was almost like he was back in his bedroom at home again, playing and singing only for his own enjoyment. He completely blanks out the people around him and forgets about crazed pregnant women waiting for him when he gets home.

 

The last few notes from Bad Blood ring out from his fingers and he blinks quickly as the applause in the room around him almost physically drags him back into the present again. He can feel the disappointment, but plasters a shy smile on his face, hoping against hope that the disappointment hadn’t shown on his face.

 

Sliding around on the seat so he is now straddling the bench and looking at the people in front of him, he notices one of the radio workers holding out a different microphone for him to speak into and he reaches out to take it from the guy who barely looked like he was out of his teens. He smiles in thank you and holds it to his chest waiting for whatever might come next.

 

“Wow, Dan from Bastille, thank you so much for that performance!” the tall blond calls from the front of the crowd and Dan recognises her as the presenter who had surprised Kyle with the baby questions last time they were in LA.

 

“No problem, thanks for inviting me,” Dan replies politely, knowing he was expected to say something now. He didn’t know if this was going out live or whether it was being recorded, but he was determined not to make a fool out of himself, especially when it was only himself he had to look out for.

 

“So we’ve asked everyone here to submit a question if they wanted, and we’re gonna ask you a few if that okay with you?” Ruby peppily asks, a giggle escaping her plastic features. Dan couldn’t be certain, but he thought she looked even more fake than only a mere weeks earlier.

 

“Oh! Alright,” the singer worries immediately about what could possibly be asked and he flicks his eyes to the side of the stage where he knew Charlene and Nikki were standing. The smaller of the girls gives him a reassuring smile, and despite his current misgivings and problems with the girl, he does feel a bit comforted in the gesture.

 

He looks down at a small line of what looked like mid teenage girls and a few older people standing in a line waiting to ask their questions. He smiles kindly at the first girl – she looked about fourteen and had an unfortunate squint under thick black framed glasses that were clearly only purchased because they were cheap. She kept her top lip purposefully covering her top set of teeth, a move Dan knew meant she was probably hiding braces or a retainer. He mousy brown hair was scattily arranged in a loose plait that was falling out and she was wearing very old, probably hand me down clothes.

 

“H-hi,” she stammers as she starts to talk, but then a deep red blush starts spreading all over her face as Dan smile wider at her.

 

“Oh, god! No don’t be embarrassed about talking to me!” Dan says suddenly, and he looks around for somewhere to put his microphone, whole the girl puts a hand over her mouth and looks as if tears are about to spill out of her eyes. “No! Nonono! He says again, finally finding a place where the equipment won’t roll off and break into a million pieces and he jumps off of the seat and rushes to the young girl’s side.

 

She barely reaches his chest, her growth spurt not hit her yet, and Dan crouches onto one knee to sit next to her so he was more her height.

 

“Hi, so I’m Dan,” he starts and raises his eyebrows waiting for her to introduce herself. She giggles slightly through the tears at the singer on bended knee in front of her.

 

“Hi,” she says again. “I’m Alice,” she says and giggles again, rubbing her eyes under her glasses to get the tears away.

 

“Nice to meet you Alice,” Dan continues, but he is knee almost gives way on him, so instead of staying kneeling, he ends up cross legged in the floor looking like he was sitting court with the girl. “What’s your question, Alice?” he asks, trying not to be an ass, but also trying to hurry this along a bit.

 

“Uhm, I was wondering what made you want to be a singer?” she asks, almost silently, and Dan’s not too sure he would have heard it if he hadn’t been next to her.

 

“Why did I want to be a singer?” he reiterates with the girl who nods violently, before running very quickly back to her seat in the corner of the room. “Wow, well I’m not too sure you can call my screeching singing, but alright,” he jokes and a few girls in the front row make a sympathetic sound and gaze lovingly at his back as he climbs up from the floor, and back towards his microphone and seat.

 

He answers that question and a few more as fully as he felt comfortably to do. He was surprised that there were no questions at all about his relationship with Kyle and he spent the entire time waiting for the other shoe to drop, or even for Laura to appear as if from nowhere and demanding he hand Kyle over to her. He was now expecting the weirdest things to happen to him – at least he could be pleasantly surprised if it didn’t happen.

 

He could see the queue of people was getting shorter and shorter, and the questions were getting more and more random _(“Pineapple on a pizza?” “Pineapple is the devil’s food on pizza.” “Crunchy or smooth peanut butter?” “I don’t think I have a preference.”)_ Finally, he saw Ruby step up to the microphone to end the session, but before she was able to say anything, another person walked up behind her and tapped on her shoulder.

 

For a moment she looked annoyed, but she turned to look at the person wanting to talk to her and her look went from angry to surprised, until she then stepped aside and let the figure step up to the microphone.

 

A bright light had shone in Dan’s face for a lot of the question and answer session, so when the new person stepped up, Dan shielded his eyes to see the person clearly. Standing tall at the black stand, the tall thin man was wearing a tan trench coat with the collar up around his neck. He had a peaked almost Stetson style hat on and was still wearing sunglasses inside. But what gave him away completely was the full black beard that was poking up above the collar of the coat. Dan shuts his eyes to steel himself, before curbing a laugh that was threatening to bubble up from his chest and looks directly at his husband.

 

“Uh, I’m…uh…Alan,” comes an extremely overworked and fake American accent from the speakers, and Dan bites down on his lower lip as he waits.

 

“Hi, Alan,” he says. “Nice…hat,” he adds and the people in the crowd laugh a little awkwardly, not too sure how to take this stranger. Dan had no idea how they didn’t realise who it was, but he thanked God for small mercies.

 

“Thanks,” his voices deepens as he coughs slightly. “Can you play ‘I’ll Make a Man out of You’, from Mulan?” Kyle – Alan – asks, a very straight and serious expression on his face.

 

“Uhm, no is the short answer. My husband would know that better than me,” Dan explains to the sounds of ‘awww’ from the crowd. “But, I do know a song from another London Dan that I could play you guys,” he adds as he looks over at the radio host to see if that was alright. The emphatic nod of the head indicated that yes it would be fine. “Awesome, well hopefully he won’t sue me when I get home,” he says and starts the notes for the song he knew that Kyle would understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for those who don't know it, the song from Mulan is:  
> https://youtu.be/10KGEAcRy-c
> 
> And the song that Dan plays at the end can be whatever song you want, but the one I imagine it to be is "Kettle's On" by the awesome The Feeling  
> https://youtu.be/RWTdR3QvEj4
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed! As always let me know what you think <33


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So thanks to @AlwaysChasing (and others :p ) for making me write faster. Been a busy few weeks but I absolutely promise to get back to a more regular posting schedule!!
> 
> As always please let me know what you think <33

Being the talent had some perks, Dan thought to himself as he meandered slowly around the ‘green room’ that had been set up for him to relax in while the fans left the building. At least he could decide exactly when he could leave the performance area and also escape into some silence while Nikki and Charlene managed to get rid of the prying eyes of the people wanting to see him out of his natural environment.

 

Admittedly the morning hadn’t gone as badly as he had been imagining. The questions weren’t too invasive and he didn’t think he recognised any of the faces which was a rarity for him nowadays. Sure he appreciated the people that repeatedly came out to see him and the guys perform, but he really wishes that he could see some variety in the people he was faced with when he performed. 

 

Thinking fondly over some of the people he had spoken to, he fingers at the coffee pot that was still semi warm and he pours a cup before half draining it and leaning against the table it was resting on.

 

“Fuck!” he suddenly curses, before finishing the cup in one more gulp, and setting it quickly down behind him before walking briskly to the door of the room and putting his hand out to turn the handle.

 

Underneath his grip the knob turned itself and the door is forcefully pushed open. The singer only just gets out of the way of the swinging wood as Nikki barges in towards him, a finger on his chest and walking the man backwards.

 

“Where do you think you’re going?” she asks, almost in a school ma’am voice. Dan looks at her and can’t decide whether she’s trying to be funny or not. It was really hard to tell with this girl.

 

“Out there,” he says and points over her shoulder, attempting to walk forward again.

 

“Nuh-uh, mister, sorry, can’t let you do that,” she says and physically turns him and walks him back towards the black leather sofa that was sitting in the corner of the room.

 

Dan can feel the chills creeping up his back. He hated being touched in any way without his permission, especially by people he wasn’t that keen on in the first place. Nikki had always made him feel more and more awkward. She seemed to revel in making him feel bad, and insult him and the other guys, but then also seemed to have a crush on him at the same time. Dan was a mess of confusion with this girl.

 

“Seriously, Nikki, I’m sorry but I need to get out there,” he says, trying to stand up from the sofa and get away from this situation. He desperately wanted to get out there and make sure Kyle hadn’t been a figment of his imagination.

 

“Daniel, please just sit down. Charlene is dealing with the guests who are still out there. I know you don’t want them to annoy you,” she says matter of factly. The statement annoyed Dan more than he could say. None of the people he had seen today seemed to be anyone like Laura or the people that he worked with that seemed to frustrate him on a daily basis and he glares at her, hoping that his annoyance was clear on his face.

 

“Don’t look at me like that, I know you only want to be with the people who know you well,” she says off handedly and gets up to pour herself a coffee.

 

“Yes! That’s right! That’s why I’m going out there!” he says, exasperatedly and takes her moment of coffee pouring as his cue to leave the room.

 

“Dan!” he hears being called after him as he pulls the door open and escapes the woman’s clutches. He seriously felt like he had been kidnapped, and god forbid that happen, as that was the one thing that hadn’t actually happened to them recently.

 

Rolling his eyes, Dan walks quickly down the red carpeted corridor and towards the exit where he knew the audience had been directed out of. Pushing open the glass emergency door, he bursts out into the fresh air and refreshing breeze and looks around him quizzically to see if he can see Kyle around anywhere.

 

“You look like you’ve lost something. What’s a good looking guy like you doing in a seedy place like this?” comes a familiar awful American accent from behind him.

 

Spinning on the spot, Dan turns to see the man he loves leaning against the red brick wall, arms crossed and one leg bent up so his foot is flat against it. His trench coat collar has been flicked up covering the lower half of his face and his hat is now dipped over his eyes. Dan chuckles at the sight of Kyle attempting to be Humphrey Bogart.

 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asks finally, a smile pulling at the corners of his lips and nonchalantly standing with his hands in his pockets.

 

“Well, doll, I had this craving for a nice greasy American burger,” Kyle starts and Dan shakes his head as he decides he can’t play along much longer and he walks up to his husband and pulls the brown hat off of his head.

 

“What the hell do you look like?” he asks him, wrapping his arms around the other man’s waist, gripping his hips and pulling him in towards him.

 

“Shh,” Kyle shushes the other man. “I’m incognito,” he adds as if the answer is obvious.

 

“Incognito? Dude, I think if you turned up here in a giant lobster costume you would have drawn less attention,” Dan scoffs, but the humour isn’t in his voice as he stares directly into Kyle’s deep brown eyes. He falls, as if for the first time again, the warmth and feeling of home that they bring him. He feels his breath hitch ever so lightly as he realises that this isn’t actually a dream – Kyle has travelled to get to him. “What did Dave say?”

 

“Babes, you think I asked his _permission_ to come and surprise my husband?” Kyle scowls and pulls back from the embrace so he can see his partner’s entire face. “I was so pissed when he refused to even let me come and support you. He can go and take a short walk off a long fucking pier for all I care,” and with that he reaches down and pecks a light kiss against Dan’s waiting mouth. Pulling away slightly, Dan then goes in for a second kiss, and then Kyle can’t stop himself trying to take the whole thing slightly further.

 

Whimpering slightly as his willing mouth opens for the other man to slip into, Dan feels whole again. Hibernating in his room and avoiding everyone for the weekend and then having to go out and party – something had been missing. The other half to his soul almost, and he feels the heat and desire fill him up as he realises it.

 

“Dan, are you out here?”

 

And with that one sentence, Kyle pulls away with a wink and escapes around the corner of the building and towards the main road. Charlene walks out of the open fire exit, holding a clipboard in her hands and pulling a hand through her somewhat frazzled hair, blond strands escaping and sticking up all over the place.

 

Sighing and rubbing a hand down his face, keeping his back to the girl long enough to calm himself down, Dan finally turns to look at the interruption. Licking his lips and savouring the flavour of Kyle on his tongue, he raises his eyebrows to the manager to find out what she wanted.

 

“Oh, hi,” flustered and blushing slightly. “The car is about to leave so I needed to come and find you,” she says to him, still avoiding his eyes, very unsubtly.

 

“Brilliant,” Dan says, calmer than he has felt in days. Kyle just merely being in the same time zone as him has clearly done him wonders. “We can’t upset daddy can we now,” he says as he walks past and into the hotel proper.

 

He doesn’t even look back to see how the girl’s mouth falls open in pure shock and surprise.

\---

The knock on his room door makes Dan jump more than he would like to admit to, but he shoves his hat back on his head as he walks over to it and opens the door without looking through the spyhole. The only people who knew his room number were part of his small entourage so he knew he didn’t have to worry about rabid fans getting to him.

 

What he doesn’t expect is to be pushed backwards from the doorway by two strong hands around the back of his neck and simultaneuously being drawn into a blistering kiss – one that he didn’t think he could even remember having had before.

 

His mind registered the taste of Kyle before it registered the vision of him in front of him, manhandling him to the bed and pushing him downwards, before starting to crawl up to straddle his hips. Kiss drunk and still not hugely sure what was happening, Dan finally looks up and into Kyle’s smiling face from his position below him. He can feel his hardness starting to swell in his jeans and he suddenly wished he had changed into his pyjamas as soon as he had gotten in instead of messing around with his phone.

 

“Security in this place sucks babes,” is all Kyle says with a huge smile on his face. He had changed into his soft light blue NASA tee-shirt and was wearing his simple straight jeans, but Dan couldn’t remember a time where he had looked sexier or more alluring.

 

Reaching up to grab at the neck of his shirt, Dan decides the only good response to the cheekiness coming from his husband was to kiss him into submission. He managed to flip them so that he was now on top of Kyle in one of his favourite positions, and Kyle reached up inside of his shirt to grab at his chest, Dan quickly forgetting his own name as he feels the roughness of Kyle’s hands pinching and rubbing at his nipples.

 

“Get that fucking thing of your head,” he growls as he reaches up and unceremoniously pulls the cap off of Dan and he stills immediately as he looks at the singer’s head. “What the fuck have you done?”

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so the rating may have changed for this chapter...
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Dan rolls off of his husband, the mood almost completely destroyed by that one comment and groans with his hands over his face.

 

“Babes, I don’t hate it, it was just a surprise,” Kyle says softly as he gently rubs the top of his head. “Ooh, bristly,” he adds with a smile that Dan manages to catch as he puts his hands down.

 

“Really?” Dan asks, the vulnerability clear in his voice. “I don’t know why I agreed to it in the first place,” he explains.

 

“Dude, yes! I’m gonna rub it for luck before we go on stage now,” Kyle wisecracks, but when he sees the hurt in the singer’s eyes, he rolls his eyes quickly and scoots closer to him, wrapping him up in his long arms. “Dan, it’s just hair. If you hate it, it’ll grown back. And I think it makes you look hot,” he adds, a twinkle in his eye as Dan looks studiously back at him.

 

“How hot?” he asks, and swings his leg quickly over Kyle’s lap so that he is straddling him and raised up on his knees, making him substantially taller than him for the first time.

 

“Really hot,” Kyle answers after swallowing heavily.

 

Dan smirks at the reaction and leans down to kiss his husband hard and full on the mouth. Pulling away to catch his breath, Dan pushes Kyle backwards on the bed and towers above him, making quick work of his shirt and belt, eventually pulling down the zip of his jeans, making Kyle almost gasp as the tightness that had been encompassing him is released and his engorged cock can finally be let free.

 

Grinning down at the man he loves, Dan reaches behind him and grasps tightly at Kyle’s dick, covered still lightly in the cotton of his boxer briefs. He returns to kissing the bearded man, groping at the same time and teasing as much as he could. This would be all about Kyle – he had been looking after Dan so much for the past couple of weeks, and now his husband wanted to try and make it up to him.

 

Releasing Kyle with a pop, Dan starts to move backwards on the bed until he was finally face to dick, and starts to mouth at Kyle’s bulge. He loved Kyle’s dick. He had seen a few in his time admittedly, but when it came to Kyle’s he really couldn’t get enough of it. Pulling away he admires the growing wet patch of both his own saliva and Kyle’s pre-cum, now leaking quite impressively from the younger man. Placing his fingers at the waist band of the pants, Dan teases the still tanned skin, eking out whimpers and noises from the man under him, before hooking his fingers forcefully and pulling them down so that Kyle’s prick could finally spring free from its cotton prison.

 

Dan gleefully ogles the large erection in front of him, and then flicks his eyes up towards the head of the bed at the exact same time Kyle cranes his neck forward to see what the singer was about to do. Blue, lust filled eyes lock on to chocolate brown, and Dan drops forward to lick a stripe up the underside of his member – never once breaking eye contact. Stilling at the crown, he opens his mouth and just as he was about to suck it deeply into himself, a loud knocking comes from the hotel room door.

 

“Are you _fucking kidding me?_ ” Kyle growls, and throws his head backwards onto the mattress as Dan lets his own head fall forward so his forehead rests lightly on Kyle’s thigh.

 

A second round of knocks start and Dan rolls off of his husband and sighs loudly as he gets up off of the bed, his knees and back popping and cracking as he moved. Stretching to get the last of the noises out of his joints he crouches down and snatches his hat up off of the floor, making sure his head was covered before making his way to the door.

 

“Record company’s idea,” he says simply as Kyle frowns at the movement, and he walks slowly over to the door to open it before the third round of knocking eventually started.

 

Putting the security chain on the door so no one would be able to barge in and see Kyle in a compromising position, he opens the door as wide as the short gold chain would allow to see Charlene standing there waiting for him.

 

“What do you want?” Dan asks sullenly, his warm smile melting from his face as he sees the two faced girl standing there.

 

“Uh, oh, I was just making sure you were aware of the itinerary for this afternoon and evening,” the girl says. Her eyes flick down the corridor and Dan manages to angle himself so he can look to see what she is looking at – and sees Nikki standing there also, looking extremely indiscreet.

 

“Some concert thing they want me to be seen at right? And drinks or some shit after?” Dan clarifies with her, and he leans against the edge of the door.

 

“Er, yeah that’s right. We need you to be ready about three?” she says to him and Dan nods and goes to close the door on her, before he is stopped by a loud and unsubtle clearing of the throat. He looks back out at her with an expectant look on her face, but instead of Charlene he is faced with the loud and boisterous brunette staring back at him almost pushing her way through the small space in the door.

 

Dan yelps at the shock, and hears a chuckle from next to him. Kyle had somehow managed to make his way to the door and has his forehead pressed against the peephole so he can see exactly what was happening in the hallway.

 

“So that weird flasher type guy that was at the thing this morning, we’ve put out his description,” she says, clearly continuing some conversation she had already started with Dan in her head. “He was totally insane, I mean to wear that get up to a place where there were young girls, Dan you must have been absolutely terrified,” she continues, clearly trying to get closer to him.

 

Dan moves back from the door slightly, getting more and more weirded out by the girl as she continued to talk. “What flasher guy?” he asks, a smile curling at his lips, thinking the woman must have been trying to make a joke – she was still an enigma to him and to be honest it seemed like something she might try and do.

 

“The last guy who asked a question. He was clearly some sort of pervert, so if he comes anywhere near here we’ll get him arrested.”

 

Kyle squeaks at the revelation and Dan notices he’s trying to stop himself from laughing by stuffing his fist in his mouth. At the same time as he notices that, he also realises that Kyle is standing next to him completely naked, and using his other hand to slowly jerk himself off at the same time as listening to everything that is going on. Feeling his mouth suddenly going very dry, Dan stumbles slightly as the door moves under his shoulder.

 

“Er, uhm, already, cool, sounds like a plan,” he manages to stutter out as he continues to watch Kyle who has now turned so he is leaning against the wall and watching Dan intently. “See you later,” he calls and slams the door shut on the women, hearing a slight shriek but not caring if he had hurt either of them.

 

Kyle has barely a moment to smirk at his best friend before Dan has thrown his hat off and onto the floor – a crash sounds after the throw, and Dan assumes he has probably knocked one of the many ugly lamps off of one of the tables in the room and he’s pushing Kyle until he is pressed against the wall, and then sinks swiftly to his knees and grabs both of his hips before sinking fully down onto Kyle’s waiting and leaking dick.

 

Salty bursts of pre-cum attack Dan’s tongue, and he groans as the familiar taste of his husband attack his senses and arouse him more than anything else could do. He pulls off and revels in the moans and groans coming from above him. He licks and sucks the tip of Kyle’s uncut dick as hard and as lavishly as he can, he holds the base and starts jerking him quickly using the saliva that had escaped him as he enjoyed his treat to slide his way and make the glide a lot smoother.

 

The noises, squirming and now constant babbling from his husband lets Dan know exactly how close Kyle is. “There, baby…fuck…so good, oh my god,” was like a mantra to the taller man and he moves his hands so he can hold onto Dan and start guiding him the way he liked.

 

Dan opens his throat up for him and he lets go and becomes boneless as he waits for Kyle to fuck his mouth as fast as he needed to. He could feel the long fingers massaging his head and running against the short coarse hairs on his scalp. Timing it perfectly, as soon as the head hits the soft palate at the back of his throat he groans and swallows simultaneously and Kyle stills and Dan feels the thick pungent liquid escape into his mouth.

 

He makes a quick decision and pulls off quickly, allowing Kyle to leave his seed all over his face. He shuts his eyes and keeps his mouth open as the warm fluid covers his face and starts to run down the side of his jaw and onto his neck.

 

“Nnngh, fuck I wish I had my phone to capture that fucking beautiful image,” Kyle growls and pulls Dan up from his position on the floor.

 

He attacks Dan’s lips and licks quickly into the singer’s mouth to chase the taste of himself as it slowly fades into a mixture of Dan’s taste and his own. He pulls off and can see the semen smudging all over his husband’s face, and if that didn’t make him want to go for round two almost immediately he didn’t know what would.

 

“Shower. Now.” Is all Kyle demands as he walks quickly over to the en suite in the corner of the room.

 

Trying desperately to ignore the alien feeling of cum running down his face, Dan smiles widely after him and almost skips after the man he loved.

 

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

Kyle wanders around the crowd, looking from left to right and taking in every little detail around him. Couples stroll hand in hand, cheeks pink from the cold biting air despite the fact they were still in California.

 

A cheer rises up from somewhere behind him and he swings around quickly to notice a fire dancer entertaining a crowd of young girls, their faces beaming in the crackle and flicker of reds, yellows and oranges. He huffs a small laugh and smiles at the sight, before getting back on to his mission to find Dan.

 

After their shower – where admittedly they may have ended up filthier afterwards than before they went in – Kyle had been unceremoniously pushed out of the hotel with a quick kiss to the end of his nose and a smirk. Dan insisted the sneaking around again would be more fun than anything else, and Kyle wasn’t too sure whether he agreed with that assessment. Leaning against the closed door and letting his head fall backwards, he heard an explosion of laughter from his singer as he had heard the thump.

 

“I’ll see you later Kyle,” he called through the door to him and Kyle feels a pout forming on his face as he remembers it. He had eventually pushed away from the door and returned to his hotel room after finally realising Dan wasn’t going to let him back in again.

 

He stands next to the large bonfire that had been created and feels the flames warm up his face as he digs his hands further into the pockets of the jacket he had thrown over his hoody before heading out. No one was meant to know he was there, and Dan was being pampered in the backstage VIP section of this tiny festival. He wasn’t even performing, but he had managed to get into the more secluded area available to them. Kyle looks over to where they he assumed they had all congregated. There was a tall wooden fence cordoning off a section behind the stage and some food trucks. He could see some roadies come and go through the door that was being manned by an official looking man in a high visibility vest.

 

Sighing, he glances down to his wrist where security had put a red fabric wristband on him when he had handed over his ticket at the entrance. He was almost certain that if he tried to get through the door, that colour would automatically alert the beefy looking guy and he would be frogmarched out of the place altogether.

 

“ _Think_ , Kyle,” he mutters to himself. He knows he has to get back there. It was official that he was now very bored. After walking around and seeing what things could be offered to him, he now realises that doing this kind of thing alone was possibly the most mundane thing he could think of.

 

Suddenly, he sees someone meandering through the people now amassed between the stage and the sound tent, clearly waiting for the next act to come out and entertain them. The guy was holding three overfilled plastic pint glasses in his hands and he looked like he needed someone to help.

 

Rushing past everyone – and possibly bumping into at least one, but it doesn’t count as rude because he yells ‘sorry’ as he goes – and literally skids to a stop in front of the beer carrier.

 

“Kyle?” the man asks, incredulously after a moment of his face going through a number of reactions – wide eyed annoyance, anger, frustration and then finally recognition.

 

“Cam! You have no fucking clue how happy I am to see you right now!” Kyle exclaims loudly and takes n of the pints from his hand.

 

“You are not gonna drink that bro, it’s more than my life’s worth,” Cam says in his broad New Zealand Maori accent. He flashes a broad white smile at him, and it seems to make his handsome brown face look even better. A twinkle shines in his onyx eyes and Kyle internally swoons.

 

“No, I’m really not!” Kyle jokes back. “I really need a favour mate,” he adds and throws an arm over Cam’s shoulders and starts walking him towards the wooden slatted door he knew he was going to. “You’re working today, yeah?”

 

“Yeah,” the Kiwi drawls in response, suspicion clear in his voice. The shorter man was all up for fun with Kyle when they had time during his tours, but right now he was working for someone else and he actually had somewhere to be.

 

“Well a certain dark haired, easily trusting husband of mine is back there and I just want to go see him,” Kyle explains flippantly, and tries to copy Dan’s own puppy dog eyes onto the roadie to try and help his cause.

 

“Dan’s back there? Aw, mate, let’s see if I can get you back,” Cam’s shoulders relax as he realises he probably won’t get in to trouble if he helps his ex-good time pal out.

 

As they weave their way through the crowd, narrowly avoiding teenagers and young kids, Kyle starts seriously wondering exactly what kind of festival Dan had been talked into attending. He couldn’t actually see anyone that looked over the age of 16 in the crowd at all. But he couldn’t really care if he got to be close to the singer again.

 

Cam stops suddenly in front of what Kyle had correctly assumed was the door back stage and he can feel the excitement and anticipation tingle through him. He didn’t know why, but maybe Dan had been right when he said sneaking around would be more exciting for them. He looks over at his friend and sees him take the significantly rotund and elderly security guy to the side to talk to him as Kyle stood almost invisible to the other side of them.

 

Kyle watches them intently and there is a break in the murmuring as the fluorescent yellow clad man glances over to the musician and eyes him up and down looking extremely unimpressed and doubtful at whatever Cam had just said to him. He looks over his shoulder to see if there was anyone behind him and starts to whistle tunelessly. A high pitched squeaking comes from his pursed lips and he frowns and cringes at his inability to make music with him mouth.

 

The security guard rolls his eyes, looks Kyle up and down judgingly and turns back to talk to Cam tutting loudly.

 

Kyle takes a literal step back at the way he was being assessed and takes a second to look down at his attire making sure he hadn’t put his boxers on outside his jeans by mistake – again.

 

Nope, he was good. His jeans were his, and he knew the dark blue-black denim accentuated his arse the way he knew Dan liked. His Adidas were clean and new and pulling at the bottom of his shirt confirmed that he had his Mickey Mouse blue tee shirt on. That and his dark grey hoody under his leather jacket and he knew he was the picture of maturity and normalcy. Well as much as he could be, he was still Kyle after all.

 

“Dude, bro,” Cam was suddenly standing in front of him again and pulling on his arm, trying to get him to follow him.

 

“He was alright with it? He didn’t seem to like me very much,’ Kyle asks incredulity seeping from his features as he trips over his feet in haste to keep up with the New Zealander.

 

“Kyle, only people who’ve met you don’t like you,” Cam replies with a smirk, laughing when he sees the affronted look on the musician’s face. “I think he was judging your decision making skills,” he adds, and Kyle is surprised when the roadie flicks his beard and pink and silver sparkle falls onto the grass in front of him.

 

“Oh!” Kyle explains, and then hits his palm to his forehead. “I completely forgot I had done that!” he says, slightly too loudly, and possibly finally betraying how much he had actually had to drink since he had been there. And of course if he had passed a stall offering the much needed service of ‘Glitter Beards’ who was he to pass up on the opportunity?

 

“I’m so going to regret doing this aren’t I?” Cam mutters to himself as he pulls his ex-workmate by his sleeve and towards a random, slightly roped off area where there was a round table and uncomfortable looking folding chairs. “Don’t embarrass yourself,” the guy turns and says to Kyle before stopping himself, rolling his eyes and walking away chiding himself for saying something so stupid.

 

“Thanks, Cam!” he almost shrieks and waves at the back of the kiwi who was clearly trying to make himself as small as possible to avoid the glares and looks of the other talent and workers surrounding them.

 

Chuckling he heads off to the roped off area where he could see the familiar long sleeved tee short clad man he loved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, okay. I know. Its been a fricking while. I'm fully aware and I am so sorry!
> 
> I have not forgotten about any of these and am finally getting back into it. Unfortunately had a bit of a crisis of confidence with regards to everything, so instead of forcing this whole chapter into one long one i've decided to cut it in two so I don't ruin anything.
> 
> I am planning on updating on a monthly schedule now. Some IRL stuff is happening so will have more time and motivation to do this going forward.
> 
> Please let me know what you think, even if its to chew me out for being away for so long!
> 
> xx


	12. Chapter 12

“Cheers for doing this mate, totally owe you one.”

 

“Reg, you owe me like a million by now but seriously it’s cool,” Dan placates the presenter and smiles as some unknown face clips a microphone to his shirt, blushing the whole time.

 

Once Dan has arrived at the site, he had been ushered backstage for some reason and he had immediately bumped into Reggie. The radio DJ had been thrilled to find an artist he knew and had immediately asked if he could interview him for his show.

 

“It’s just everyone here is new and so unknown,” Reggie lamented. “I need someone who my listeners know and can hook them for the rest of it.”

 

Dan chuckles and relaxes back into the chair. The assistant had scurried off somewhere, looking as if she was gonna cry and Dan had watched her go with a concerned look.

 

“She’s got a crush on you,” is all Reggie said as he grabbed a chair of his own and settles down. Dan starts to feel the heat at his own cheeks at the admission and he drops his head in his hands. “Oh to be a superstar huh?” Reggie laughs.

 

“Oh shut up,” Dan replies as he watches the producer make some strange hand gestures and queue them up for recording.

 

Reggie introduces his segment and then Dan and they spend a few moments chatting nicely about nothing in particular before getting down to business.

 

“So, Dan, were gonna ask everyone we speak to today some things about what’s on their phones, you up for it?”

 

Dan had already been asked whether it was alright for them to do this so it wasn’t a surprise when the question came. He knew he was shit at lying but there really wasn’t anything on his phone that would get him into trouble so he was fine with it.

 

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Dan says, feigning resignation at having to give his phone over.

 

“There’s nothing on this that’ll make me blush is there?” The other man jokes with him as he takes hold of it and clicks the button to turn it on.

 

“Nah, don’t think so, not unless someone’s messed with it recently,” Dan suddenly freezes as he realises that Kyle has been alone with it recently. “Actually, let me have a quick look and check,” he adds and make grabby hands at the phone to get it back.

 

“Who would change things on your phone, Dan?” The presenter asks cheekily And also refuses to hand the phone back over to him.

 

“Woody, our drummer, has an uncanny knack of managing to change shi-, sorry, stuff on my phone, like backgrounds and ringtones,” Dan explains, not wanting to say that his husband had also started playing with it as well.

 

“Just Woody?” Reggie asks, a knowing smile on his face.

 

“No, well obviously anyone who knows us knows Kyle’s a nightmare too and would definitely mess with it if he had a chance,” Dan admits, rolling his eyes.

 

“So how is married life treating you? For any of our listeners who didn’t know, Dan here is no longer single and married his band mate Kyle this year,” Reggie chuckles as he says it and continues to flip through the pages on Dans phone.

 

“Yeah, well you learn a lot about a person stuck on a tour bus for months at a time so at least nothing came as a shock when we moved in together,” Dan laughs.

 

“So I’m seeing the normal apps here; twitter, what’s app, Instagram. What do you use most?”

 

“Probably what’s app,” Dan replies and curses himself. It would have been a lot less stress of he’d said twitter.

 

“Right let’s see then,” Reggie says and clearly clicks into the app. “Okay, so the normal, mum, dad - Who is ‘bearded weirdo’?” He laughs at the name.

 

“Well all couples have pet names right?”

 

“You call me bearded weirdo?” A familiar voice comes from behind him and Dan frowns as he recognises it.

 

—-

“You interrupted my interview!” Dan shouts over the loud noises coming from he main stage. He pulls at his husband’s long arm and moves them quickly towards a semi-private area to talk.

 

“He was making googly eyes at you,” Kyle waves off Dans concerns and picks at one of the strangely places plastic plants they had hidden behind.

 

“Reggie wasn’t making googly eyes at me, fucks sake Kyle!”

 

“He didn’t seem too upset anyway did he,” Kyle ignores the muttering and continues. “He got interesting stuff.”

 

“You told him my morning routine and that I need to tell myself ‘I love you’ in the mirror every morning.”

 

“Yeah, That was awesome,” he laughs back and notices a large angry woman storming towards them. Without even thinking he pulls Dan behind him to protect him.

 

“You know this ‘Alpha Kyle’ things getting a little old, mate,” Dan groans as Nikki gets closer and he can hear her shouting.

 

“What the fuck? What the fuck are you doing here Kyle? You aren’t supposed to be here, Dave said no one but Dan and us so you better have a good fucking excuse for being here!”

 

Dan popped his head over Kyle’s, so he could see exactly what was going on and how angry the girl was. It was obvious to anyone watching them though that the predominant emotion coming from the woman was jealousy and the rage was coming from that. Dan rolls his eyes at the sight.

 

“Well, you see, I have this little card - in my wallet - and when I type the number into the internet it gives me stuff,” Kyle says petulantly, almost as if he was talking to his niece and nephew. Dan snorts loudly and then tries to cover it with the back of his hand.

 

Nikki glares at the significantly taller man, her hands on her hips and her hair looking like a bird had nested in it. Kyle reaches over to her and pulls a piece of confetti out of it. The girl steps back as if she was going to catch something.

 

“I haven’t seen confetti anywhere,” he says to Dan and holds it in the palm of his hand like it might bite him. The look of death that came from her then could have downed even the biggest and most fearless man from a hundred paces. Kyle wasn’t bothered. The sooner he could get everyone away from these people the better!

 

“Anyway, shots?” He turns and looks Dan straight in the face and grins widely. The singer just shrugs back at him and Kyle grabs for his hand and intertwines their fingers together, revelling in the fact that he didn’t have to worry who saw them.

 

Nikki’s red face of frustration just went redder and Charlene appears at her shoulder, placing a hand lightly on the older girl.

 

“I really don’t think either of us are gonna get in between that,” she says apologetically and Nikki turns to glare at her.

 

“You may have given up, but there’s no way I am. He loves me and I know it.”

 

—-

The area surrounding them was filled with laughing and clinking glasses as the older attendees of the festival seemed to have split from the youngsters and found the VIP bar.

 

“No! Nononono, you’ve got it wrong! Kyle! NO! You totally have that the wrong way round!” Dan shouts and giggles at the same time, stopping briefly to down the shot of tequila that had been put in front of him by an extremely busy but happy waitress.

 

“I love you,” Dan says to the girl, staring her straight in the eyes and giving her a serious look, his cap slightly skewed from where he had been trying not to take it off in his drunken haze.

 

“He’s married, and very pissed,” Kyle slurs slightlyover the other man’s shoulder to the girl who sighs in relief and walks away again to another crowded table.

 

Kyle drops his hands on to Dans shoulders and pulls him backwards so he’s resting against his chest, wrapping his arms around him to get comfortable. “What were you saying?”

 

“I have no fucking clue.” And Kyle rolls his eyes as he takes another shot. “Ooh! Oh! Hi!”

 

Dan pulls away and sits upright again, and calls Nikki and Charlene over to them. He waves his arms around still trying to get their attention as they move toward the two of them and look confused at how excited the singer seems to be to see them.

 

Almost knocking his glass over, he starts to fondle and caress the glass like it was going to break before he downs the shot and slams it back on the wood in front of him.

 

“I can’t believe you guys are here! It’s so good Your here!” Dan rambles on and he looks at Kyle for agreement, not even waiting for it before he continues on. “Anyway I don’t care why you’re here or when you got here I’m just glad that you’re here and you’re my friends and I love you!”

 

With that Dan stumbles as he gets up off of the bench, and Kyle catches him quickly by the hips before he face plants on to the ground.

 

“You okay?” He asks and looks into his husbands almost totally glazed over eyes, his own eyebrows raised and even through his own drunken haze could see it would may be best to call it a night.

 

“Yup, good, all good. Let’s just wait for the floor to stop moving and I’ll be fucking awesome!” He stands there for about a minute and seats to the slight sound of bass coming from the stage. Kyle doesn’t even let go of him, knowing that if he did his lover’s legs would probably turn to jelly underneath him and he would be definitely heading to a hospital instead of a hotel.

 

Nikki rolled her eyes at the antics of the two men and flared at Kyle before starting to open her mouth to say something to Dan. Instead of making sound, however, Dan suddenly shrugs free of his husband and lunges over the wooden table, knocking all of the glasses over and wrapping his arms around the older dark haired girl.

 

“Yay! You’re here! Okay, so we get home you are definitely coming to the wedding thingy yes? Both of you?” He pulls away from Nikki, placing a swift kiss on the top of her head, and Kyle notices exactly how red she gets with embarrassment and lust, before almost growling at her colleague as Dan grabs Charlene next and does exactly the same thing.

 

The blonde stills in his arms, but after Dan looks at her like she killed his puppy, she relents and hugs him back. Dan beams as he almost falls back onto the bench.

 

“Wedding? Dan?” Kyle sobers up slightly when his words sink in.

 

“Shut up Kyle, they’re definitely coming, god they’re almost like family anyway. And singing! I want you both to sing! In fact, I need everyone to sing because I’m not gonna sing because I’m sick of singing at the moment and I don’t think I can sing if I’m gonna be at my own wedding party, I don’t think that’s fair. Do you think that’s fair?” He turns to Kyle for an answer, and Kyle takes a deep breath for him, because he was breathless just listening to Dan talk.

 

“MORE SHOTS!” He suddenly hears Dan cry and that was when Kyle’s memory finally gave up on him.

 

—-

The curtains were wide opening and shining winter sun in Dan’s eyes when his alarm went off to wake him for the plane.

 

He groans to himself and rubs his face before realising he wasn’t alone and he turns to find Kyle’s beard scratching the back of his neck before the long arms around his middle tighten to stop him from moving.

 

“Did you even use that hotel room I’ve probably so generously paid for?” Dan asks low into his ear with a grin and watches as Kyle’s face twitches trying to deny the fact he was waking up.

 

“Leave me alone,” is all the real he gets and Dan chuckles as he manages to escape the grabbing arms and head to the bathroom to get rid of the dry mouth feeling he had.

 

Running the water he looks at himself in the bathroom mirror and laughs as he realises he hadn’t even managed to change out of his clothes when they had stumbled into the room. Brushing his teeth vigorously he tries to piece together everything of the previous evening and he thinks he can remember nearly all of it. He swills and spits and wanders back out into the main room and toward his bag to dress for travelling.

 

“Hey,” he stops and looks at the bed, Kyle finally deciding to move when he realised his source of comfort and heat was not getting back in with him. “Did I dream it or did we see Jules and Sharon last night?”

 

“Why the fuck would they have been here?” Kyle asks as he grabs onto his head and walks slowly toward the bathroom.

 

“I dunno, just thought we had,” Dan says and shrugs his shoulders while packing everything away and getting ready to head home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. I know I promised this a looobg time ago. But I have moved house, moved city and moved job since Christmas and I haven’t been able to get into the right headspace to write. I’m finally getting there though! 
> 
> So please! As always, all comments and suggestions welcome please message if you want to and I hope you enjoy!


	13. Chapter 13

Dan checks his watch and looks at the digital “05:37” reflected back at him. He was exhausted. He hadn’t been able to get Kyle upgraded to sit with him in business class so they had had to separate at the gate, laughing at each other as their hands comically parted; each of them shouting each other’s name like Rose and Jack on the Titanic.

 

Needless to say the airline staff didn’t look too impressed.

 

Unlike his management ladies. Dan had spent the entire flight trying to field in depth questions about the wedding party, what was happening and his entire family tree. Charlene has been quiet and seemed to sleep or watch movies throughout the flight, but the quick fire questions coming from Nikki were never ending. And he couldn’t quite understand where they were all coming from.

 

Thankfully, she either tired herself out, or someone had slipped her something in one of her drinks because after about ninety minutes she was snoring loudly, head thrown back against the seat and her mouth wide open. Dan managed to look away before the thin line of drool from the corner of her mouth fell onto her shoulder.

 

For the remainder of the flight, Dan and Kyle send stupid messages to each other on the in flight entertainment system while simultaneously watching whatever horror movie he could find. He almost screamed with delight when he found the horror indie film ‘Creep’ and settled down to watch the story of the things living on the London Underground unfold before him.

 

‘You know that’s our line right?’

 

Is all he got back from Kyle when he had told him - and he chuckled to himself as he continued to watch Franke Potente run from hideously disfigured creatures in the Northern Line.

 

He had dozed at times, but after twelve long, arduous hours he had landed at Heathrow and was now standing in a hideously long customs line with all the other returning holiday makers. Just his luck for the automated barriers to all be broken on the day he flies home.

 

Over the heads of all the other passengers he could see the zombie like head of his husband, almost looking like he was sleeping standing up - his own baseball cap pulled low over his eyes and his hoody looking far too comfortable for Dan’s liking. Taking another millimetre step forward, the singer finally bumps into the metal corner barrier that signified he was at the front of the line. He does an internal cheer and searches the line of similarly shattered looking borer force officials waiting for one to become free.

 

Finally a surly looking older gentleman with gray hair and a face that looked like he was over everything beckoned him over with a curt nod. Dan rushes forward, but someone had forgot to tell his feet to move normally and he ends up nearly falling face first into a family of four standing very close to him. He apologises and smiles apologetically as he tries to compose himself and walk a bit more humanly to the man’s desk.

 

Dan stands self consciously next to the man’s taller desk and hands over his passport quickly to him and then puts his hands in his pockets, not really knowing what to do next.

 

“Glasses,” the man says simply. Dan looks at him confused for a moment before he realises what the guy means.

 

“Oh! Yes!” He replies with a self conscious smile and takes his glasses off so the customs man can see him properly.

 

“Hat.”

 

“What?” Dan looks at him blankly.

 

“The hat too.”

 

The two of them look at each other for a moment, one man not wavering while the other was beginning to panic again.

 

“Right. Yes, hat,” Dan says finally and he looks around at other people in the queue to make sure no one was paying attention to him or had recognised him at all.

 

Realising the only reason people were staring at him was because of the time he was taking to get through what should be a totally normal check for someone going back to their own country. He sighs and. Pulls his hat off his head.

 

The guard stares at him and then looks at the picture on the passport before scanning it and blithely handing it out to him without another word.Dan takes it quietly after quickly throwing his hat back on and thanking someone that no phones or cameras were allowed in the customs hall.

 

Muttering to himself - so tired he didn’t even realise he was doing it - he walks quickly into the baggage hall and doesn’t even wait for Kyle before walking out the international arrivals door, dragging his case behind him.

 

“There he is!” A familiar and totally unexpected voice screams from the side of the barrier separating the arriving passengers from their families.

 

He turns, confused and furrowing his brow looking for the face of the person he knew it belonged to and finally his searching eyes stop on the duo of best friends waiting for him. He laughs on the spot for a moment before jogging over to Sophie and Ralph who were holding a sign for him and everything.

 

“Marry me, Bastille Dan? Really?” He asks sardonically and raises an eyebrow at his friends.

 

“Yeah,” Sophie says with a grin. “I thought you’d be comfortable getting something nearly every girl screams at you,” she wiggles her eye brows at him and Ralph rolls his eyes, obviously already had this conversation.

 

“Shut up, no one says that,” he tells her and he pulls her into a massive one armed hug, his tall frame dwarfing her shorted one as he holds her for a few seconds and then lets her go.

 

“Pffft, you just don’t hear it when they do,” she replies and lets him move over the behemoth of a man standing next to her.

 

“She’s right, that’s why you’re in this mess,” he replies with a shrug and Dan glares at him, indicating it was time for him to shut up.

 

“I hear things,” he mutters petulantly, causing his friends to scoff and Dan turns to them looking hurt.

 

“What have you said?” Kyle’s voice comes from behind them, accusing and loud.

 

“Oh my god, the guard dog’s here,” Sophie says with mock fear and hides behind Ralph.

 

“No! Don’t hide behind me!” Ralph says with the same expression.

 

“You guys are absolutely fucking hilarious do you know that?” Kyle tells them with a smile and hugs each of them in turn. “Why are you here?”

 

“Well, we’re here to take Daniel to the venue for tomorrow!” Sophie announces and Dan swivels almost losing his balance as he moves. He looks at her very confused.

 

“I don’t have my stuff to go to the venue,” he starts to protest, his arms flying everywhere and Kyle notices him getting more and more stressed, before placing his hands on Dan’s shoulder and squeezing comfortingly.

 

“Calm down mate!” Ralph studies at the interaction. He hadn’t spent as much time with his best friend since he and Kyle had gotten together. Life had just gotten in the way and neither of them had had any time to just catch up with each other. He gave a small half smile as he saw how Kyle just automatically comforted him, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

 

“We have your stuff, we braved your security cats and picked up some things from your place and your folks have got everything else.”

 

“Yeah Kyle that cat is positively terrifying,” Sophie adds - Kyle just shrugs.

 

“Your fault for not going in with me,” he tells her off handedly and he gets a smack on his hand from the singer. Kyle looks at him suspiciously but smacks a kiss on his cheek and releases his shoulders as he had at least calmed down.

 

“Let’s go then!” He announces, heading toward the exit with his own case.

 

“Nope, not you,” Ralph And Sophie day in tandem and grab Kyle’s arm causing him to swing backwards.

 

“What?” Kyle looks affronted at the idea that he wasn’t allowed to come.

 

“Us and him are going...you have to find your own way,” Ralph tells him with a smug look.

 

“But....what...huh?” Kyle looks at Ralph and Sophie in turn before reaching Dan’s eyes finally with a dumbstruck look on his face.

 

“C’mon guys, we can take him with us can’t we?” Dan breaks out the puppy dog eyes to his friends who just look at him pityingly and shaking their heads.

 

“That’s what we’re here for!”

 

All four of the group turn at that and see two more familiar faces walking towards them. Woody looking almost manic as he almost skipped towards them, his hair hidden under his own cap and then next to him the cheesy wife grin of Kyle’s younger brother; who as soon as he reached them he pulled him into his own bear hug.

 

Ralph and Sophie looked at Dan, slightly confused by the scene. Of course they knew what had happened with the brothers but they had yet to experience it for themselves.

 

“They’ve become a lot huggier since they found out,” is all Dan says by way of an explanation.

 

“We’re takin’ you, and they’re takin’ him and you will not be seeing each other until we say so,” Woody says with far more glee than Dan thought he should have a right to.

 

Dan and Kyle share a slightly worried look before Dan finally asks - “is this...?”

 

“Yup! Stag Nights!” Woody shouts loudly, causing everyone in the vicinity to turn and stare at them.

 

Dan hangs his head and then scrubs one hand down his face, shaking his head at the same time.

 

“Oh, fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Another chapter for you!
> 
> Please enjoy and as always any criticism and comments more than welcome!


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